Difference
by loveyourselftodeath
Summary: Uzumaki Naruto was strong, he had friends, and most importantly? He was loved. So why doesn't he see it? Why was there hatred curling in his gut? He had family, he had love - mothers kisses, daddy's smiles, he was somebody's child. So why... Why was he doing this? Slight language and pairings undecided. Very AU.
1. The Beginning

**Difference**

**Summary: Naruto was adopted by the Uchiha clan as a child and found friends in some ****Jōnin. What difference does that make?**

This first chapter is slightly rushed but I wanted to get the ball rolling; I want to get to the Land of Waves Arc, so if you just want to scan read this I don't mind.

_Naruto is a bit more fragile and Sasuke is much more protective. Sakura gets the beat down she deserves and she's starting to become a **proper **teammate and kunoichi._

* * *

The boy panted, hands on his legs. He wore a skin tight black shirt that was tucked into his grey trousers; the shirt stretched along his arms, leading into fingerless gloves, fitted with two metal plates on the back of the hand. He was wearing a hitai-ate which was also a bandanna, covering distinctive blond hair that shone brightly in the sun. His grey trousers were tucked and wrapped into steel capped boots which, while heavy, were still quite flexible.

"I'm sorry, Kakashi-sensei!" he stammered, bright blue eyes looking at the ground. He forced himself into a low bow and shifted into a regular position when the man coughed.

"For what, Naruto-kun?" the Jōnin asked politely, leaning against the railing.

"For getting the chalk in your hair!" Naruto shot him a deploring look before sitting on the step, wringing his hands together.

"That doesn't matter," Kakashi shot the nervous boy an eye-smile, pulling out an orange book. "Your new teammates... what do you think of them?"

"Sasuke-kun doesn't like Sakura-san that much," Naruto blurted out, his eyes crinkling. "But neither do I. I don't think she should be a kunoichi, sensei! She's too loud and she always complains about how she's on a diet... She's not fit to be anything but a civilian housewife..." the boy trailed off, his acute hearing telling him that Sasuke and Sakura were twenty feet away. "She's a bitch, too... She always hits me, but she doesn't do it in a friendly way; it's a harsh smack to my head and it _hurts_, Kurama hates it too! He says it disturbs his rest and it ruins the landscape-"

"I'll see if we can transfer her; her mother is in the civilian council and she doesn't like the fact that her daughter is attempting to be a shinobi; I'm sure, with the right motivation, Sakura could be dropped." Kakashi smoothly interrupted, his eye closed in thought. Maybe he could swap her for the Hyuuga heiress?

"Naruto-baka!" Sakura yelled. Kakashi winced; he was nursing a large hangover on top of caring for the little ball of sunshine he came to know as otouto.

"Shut up, pinkie." Kakashi snarled at the girl, aghast. Were the children not taught anything about their teams?

"W-what?" She paled dramatically, moving to sit near Naruto but not _too _close.

Sasuke smirked and sat down right beside Naruto, one hand lying possessively on the boy's knee. Kakashi smiled.

"Tell me about yourself. Your name, likes, dislikes, dreams for the future, hobbies..." Kakashi waved his hand lazily.

"Why don't you do it first, sensei?" Sakura asked quietly, staring down at her lap. Sasuke's eye noticeably twitched and his hand tightened around Naruto's knee. _She's playing for pity_! The dark haired boy thought angrily.

"Hm... Hatake Kakashi. I like many things and dislike many things. My dream is... None of your damn business. I have no hobbies that you need be concerned with. Your turn, pinkie."

"Ah-!" she exclaimed. _The only thing we learned about him was his name_! "My name is Haruno Sakura! I like..." She glanced at Sasuke and cooed. "I _hate _Naruto!" Naruto grimaced and gazed at Kakashi imploringly. "I want to be-"

"That's where we stop with you, _Haruno Sakura_." Kakashi hissed. "You shouldn't even be a shinobi. How **dare **you wear that hitai-ate with an attitude so disgusting? You will be with your team for, potentially, years and you will be expected to look after them as well as them looking after you." Kakashi paused, looking up to the sky. "If your attitude towards Naruto and Sasuke do not change, I will make sure that you will never become a kunoichi."

Sakura looked taken aback by the verbal stripdown, her face paling with every word the man spoke. By the end of it, her eyes were glassy and her brow was furrowed. Did he really have the authority to do that?

"Uchiha Sasuke, your turn." Kakashi stared at the boy, ignoring the girl.

"My name is-" Sasuke smirked and shook his head. The man already knew near everything about them, didn't he? "I like training. I dislike a... Certain man. My dream is to ask him why he did what he did and act accordingly. I also want to revive my clan, preferably with three boys and one girl. My hobbies are training and cooking for Naruto."

"Whiskers, your turn." Kakashi nodded at Naruto who grinned.

"My name is Uzumaki Naruto. I like Sasuke and training, but I dislike how long it takes for instant ramen to cook. My dreams are to become Hokage and to stop people being ostracised for something they cannot control. My hobbies are training and eating Sasuke's cooking. Oh! I **really** love his onigiri, too."

Kakashi eye-smiled at the pair and nodded. "I want you three to meet me at training ground nine at 6:00 am _sharp_. I wouldn't suggest eating anything if you don't want to vomit." Kakashi nodded again. "This test is to see if you can actually become Genin; only three teams ever pass."

"C'mon, Sasuke, let's go get some Ichiraku ramen! What do you think he needs to meet us tomorrow for?" Naruto pleaded, grabbing the bigger boys arm and pulling him up. "Sakura-san, are you coming?" he asked the girl gently, feeling Sasuke stiffen.

"N-no," the girl sniffed, her eyes hidden by her hair. "I'm sorry..."

* * *

Naruto hit the log with his hands, dodging and twisting around it, throwing in kicks and twirls with large sweeps, breaking the log every time he hit it. When it finally crumbled, he began to jog around the training area.

"Dobe, you hungry?" Sasuke called from one of the many windows of the Uchiha estate.

"Yes!" Naruto beamed happily at the boy, increasing his speed until he was sprinting laps around the area.

"What would you like?" Sasuke asked louder, a happy smile on his face. His dark eyes were lit up in amusement. When he first met Naruto, he was sharing a playpen with him in the main Uchiha house.

* * *

_"Otouto, meet your new brother," Itachi smiled at the two boys, knowing that they couldn't really understand him. "Naruto-kun, meet my little brother Sasuke."_

_Itachi watched as Sasuke hit the child on the head and the other boy giggled, throwing his arms around the boy and placing a sloppy kiss on his mouth. "Bruva'!" Naruto yelled, giggling happily. "I go' a bruva'!"_

"_Brother!" Sasuke corrected the other boy and Itachi knew these children were going to be something big when they grew up._

* * *

Naruto plodded along slowly, nursing sore legs, bruised hands and a wailing headache. Sasuke was a slave driver; after he'd finished his fifty laps, Sasuke made him practise his chakra control by having him create well over a thousand _Kage Bunshin _and have them balance on the water while attempting to keep a leaf on their foreheads. When Naruto dispelled them, fifty every ten minutes, he slowly but surely figured out how to maintain the two different chakra flows and slowly, slowly managed to keep three leaves on his forehead, two on either cheek and one on the tip of his nose while fighting over one hundred clones using the Uchiha fighting style.

_"That style doesn't suit you," Sasuke frowned, huffing. "I'll need to find a Taijutsu master and ask him for help."_

He leapt up onto one of the posts, crossing his legs and he began to meditate, slipping into his mind and spreading his chakra throughout the area, alerting him to other people's presences.

"Kurama-sama?" He called, stepping over a puddle and gazing into a cave.

"**Naruto,**" the Kyuubi replied, red eyes glowing in the cave. "**What brings you here, brat?**"

"What do you think of Sakura-san?"

"**Your female teammate? I doubt she'll make it as a general shinobi... I think she'd be better as a field medic or a genjutsu specialist. Her chakra levels are slightly lower than average but, as she is civilian-born, that is to be expected. I'm going to assume that she will have excellent chakra control because of this,**" Here Kurama paused, his own senses telling him that someone was approaching Naruto in the real world. "**But I don't think they correctly managed your team. As you scored lowest in the academy and Uchiha the highest, that's correct. However, she shouldn't have been placed with you. The Yamanaka and Hyuuga scored higher than her. I think that the Hokage wanted to keep the existing Ino-Shika-Cho formation and I think that the Hyuuga's father objected to her being placed on a team with the cyclops as her sensei. Kami knows there's bad blood between the pair.**"

Naruto's head was cocked and he nodded thoughtfully. "Were there any others in the class who would balance the team?"

"**The Uchiha is more ninjutsu than you are. You're more taijutsu than he is. You do not have anyone who is genjutsu and so the team is unbalanced. Your female can dispel them easily enough but she can't recognise them. You would benefit from the Hyuuga... or maybe another male teammate? That immediately rules out Shika-Cho-Inu-Aburame, which are the only Genin who will pass the second test. You may not need someone who masters in genjutsu, but it'd help to have someone who can cast low-level illusions when on missions.**"

"Second test?" Naruto asked, head cocked.

"**What you're doing now. This determines as to whether you will officially be classed as a Genin. The test is about teamwork.**"

Naruto nodded and brought himself back into the real world. "Good morning, Sasuke-kun!" he chirped, blue eyes snapping open and pinning Sasuke to the spot.

"G-good morning!" Sasuke stammered, hiding the balloon behind his back. _Shit!_

"I hope you weren't going to throw that at _me_, _t__tebayo_!" Naruto cooed, batting his eyes at the stunned, blushing boy.

"Of course not! I-I was saving it for sensei! Yeah, sensei!" Sasuke laughed, rubbing his neck with his free hand. He had unconsciously copied Naruto and Kakashi, hidden in the trees, smirked.

"Of _course_," Naruto purred, hopping off of the tree. "This test is about teamwork."

Sasuke paused and nodded. "That sounds about right. The teams are _always _in a set of three Genin to one Jōnin instructor."

"How are we going to integrate Sakura-san?" Naruto ploughed on, starting to pace.

"What do you mean?" Sasuke asked, walking closer.

"I'll pin sensei down and you blast him with your fireball... But how does Sakura fit in?"

"How do we know we'll have to fight sensei?"

Naruto paused and gazed at Sasuke, his eyes squinted shut. "We don't... Why _would _ we need to fight sensei? I'm so stupid..."

"You're not stupid!" Sasuke began vehemently. "You're _my _otouto, so how could you be stupid?"

Naruto gaped at him. Sasuke hadn't called him his brother since they'd started at the academy. Naruto grinned and threw his arms around the much taller boy and nuzzled his face into his sternum.

"H-hey!" Sasuke grimaced. "What's up with you?"

"You haven't called me your brother in _forever_!"

"Naruto-baka, leave Sasuke-kun alone!" Sakura screeched, running up to the pair and smacking Naruto hard in the head. He fell to the floor with a loud cry, landing harshly on his arm. He flinched when he heard a loud crack.

Sasuke snarled and hit the girl back, sending her flying into a log. "Naruto, are you okay?" Sasuke propped the boy up, holding him carefully. He gently prodded the arm and winced when he felt the break.

"Hurts!" Naruto gasped, taking in deep breaths. "I'm okay, I'm fine..."

Sasuke frowned as he felt the break... Change? Beneath his fingers. He saw, rather than felt, the arm twist around slightly and heard a crush of bone against bone. He checked the boys head and saw blood but no wound. _What_?

He prodded the break again... To find that it wasn't broken. "Haruno Sakura!" Kakashi roared, flying out of the trees. "How- _What was __**that**__?!_" The man growled, picking the girl up by her collar.

She blinked weakly at him and shuddered before passing out.

Kakashi breathed through his nose. How had such behaviour been overlooked? He looked at the two boys. Teams were _always _in sets of three and there were no other Genin that could be included, were there? He closed his visible eye and began to think; he went through name upon name, but his mind kept jumping to the Hyuuga heiress. "You two, meet me at the Hokage tower." he ordered angrily, disappearing in a poof of white smoke.

Sasuke stood up, pulling Naruto up with him. The balloon had been discarded, splattering a tree in blue paint. "What do you think he'll do?" Naruto asked him quietly, tugging his arm out of the tight grip and beginning to job to the tower. Sasuke sped by, encouraging Naruto into a sprint.

"I'm not sure," Sasuke growled. "I hope she gets executed." he whispered to himself, his mind calling for Sakura's blood. She'd physically assaulted an adopted member to the Uchiha clan and such behaviour was _not tolerable._ He'd have to call a clan meeting between every clan head... "We need to get you to the hospital-" Sasuke then remembered Naruto's intense hatred of hospitals and shook his head. "I'll find someone to check on you."

They reached the tower in record timing and sped past the flustered secretary. Naruto knocked on the door carefully, stepping back from the door.

An ANBU opened the door. "Hello, Cat-san." Naruto bowed respectfully.

Cat nodded back and shifted, allowing the boys access into the room. Naruto eyed Kakashi; the man was clearly furious and he was snarling at an older woman with bubblegum pink hair. The woman was also furious, acting like a dog with its hackles raised.

There were more people in the room; there was Ojiisan and Anko-ane. Ojiisan was puffing on his pipe, his eyes betraying nothing. Anko was watching the drama with a disgusted look on her face.

"Ane," Naruto whispered, stepping beside her. "What's going on?"

"She assaulted a member of her own team!" Kakashi snarled at the pink haired woman, acting very much like an overprotective parent. "She should have her chakra sealed and her arms removed!"

Sasuke raised an incredulous eyebrow; surely that was _too _far? Clearly, Naruto shared his sentiments because he began to giggle loudly. "Sensei, what's this all about?" Sasuke asked, his face controlled.

"Assaulting a member of the leaf shinobi is a crime punishable by death, but she did it to her own teammate!" Anko joined in.

"I'm sure she didn't mean it," Naruto placated the angry pair. "After all, Sakura is only a Genin."

"That doesn't excuse her actions," the Hokage sighed, placing his pipe down carefully. "I take it, Kakashi, you are requesting a swap?"

"Yes, Hokage-sama." Kakashi bowed respectfully.

"Hm. Who would you prefer, to have as a new student in exchange for Sakura?"

"Honestly? The Hyuuga heiress. I believe she would be a valuable asset to this team, as her Byakugan would help identify enemies and their skill level. This would help myself, Sasuke and Naruto as this training would permit us to finish the enemy quickly and efficiently, while also building the girls confidence and her general ability. Forgive me, Hokage-sama, but I do not believe that Kurenai would train this girl to the best of her ability as she will get frustrated with her."

The Hokage thought carefully and began to see Kakashi's reasoning. He nodded to Cat. "I need you to find Kurenai-san and ask her and her team to come to us now."

Cat nodded and disappeared. Sakura took this time to speak up. "W-what are you going to do to me?"

"You will be shifted teams and you will be carefully monitored by the _Mind _department. We need to judge as to whether you are stable or not." the Hokage told her, an anger in his eyes. That was _his _grandson that she had hit, but he'd still been too lenient on her.

"I don't understand- that _monster _probably deserves it!" Haruno senior spoke up, a disgusting sneer twisting her pretty features into something ugly.

Sasuke and Anko were restrained by Naruto as Sakura herself slapped her mother. "He's an idiot, but you can't say he's a monster!" the girl sniffled. "I was wrong to hurt him!"

Kakashi frowned and agreed with the girl, placing a heavy hand on her shoulder.

Kurenai refused to give up the Hyuuga and so Sakura stayed with the team. She was to visit a _Mind _member every night for the next two months.

* * *

Naruto sighed and nodded, shifting his body to rest against another log. Sakura had apologised profusely and, by jurisdiction of the Hokage, offered Naruto and Sasuke the chance to have free, unlimited purchases from her parents Shinobi equipment and grocery store. The pair jumped at the chance and grinned to each other, grabbing the girls hand and pulling her to the training grounds. "Meet you there, sensei!"

The _jinchūriki_ hummed and entered his mind again, unconsciously spreading his chakra through the area for any sign of Kakashi. Sasuke sat down beside him, motioning for the girl to do the same without looking at her.

"**The girl will benefit you in many ways, brat.**" The Kyuubi's voice was gruff. Naruto smirked when he realised the fox wasn't in the cave and he was, in fact, enjoying the sun that Naruto had made for him; he was lounging by a purple-watered pond, lazily dropping his paw in and pulling it out, occasionally with a massive paw full of koi fish. "**She isn't too shabby with ninjutsu and taijutsu, knowing only the academy basics but, if given the right help, she could be a brilliant genjutsu mistress or medic.**"

"What level would you rate her at, currently?"

"**Ninjutsu, probably 1 given her circumstances, 1 for taijutsu and 3.8 for genjutsu.**"

Naruto paused and nodded. "And what would you rate me as, currently?"

"**Ninjutsu, probably around 2.4. Taijutsu is 4.5. Genjutsu is 0.5; because of **_**me**_** you don't need to dispel any genjutsu because my chakra, while it's in the 'fusing' stage, will diffuse it instantly. When we are fully merged, then you can go about training your genjutsu. Your chakra levels are simply... Phenomenal. They're boosted greatly by me, but even without me you'd be at a low-Jōnin level. **_**With **_**me, there's no point telling you. It isn't all you, remember. **"

Naruto nodded, doing the maths in his head. Sakura was rated at 5.8 out of 15, which, as a Genin, was sub-par. According to Kyuubi, Naruto was rated at 7.4 out of 15. _That just won't do_!

"Kyuubi-sama... Could you teach me more ninjutsu? I can ask ane about my taijutsu and general strength... What would you rate Sasuke at?"

"**Of course, brat.**" Was it Naruto, or was Kurama-sama's voice choked? "**Sasuke... Until he develops his Sharingan, he isn't very advanced at all. He scores at 3.7 in ninjutsu, 2 in taijutsu and 1 in genjutsu. When he develops the Sharingan and sees **_**proper **_**fights... He has the potential to be great.**"

Naruto did the maths again; Sasuke rated at 6.7 on Kyuubi's scale, but he was top Genin in the year. _Hm_.

"When will we begin training then, Kyuubi-sama?"

"**You need to buy some arm and leg weights, first. Start at five pounds, then ten pounds, twenty pounds, thirty-five pounds... Increase it to one hundred and fifty pounds before that Kakashi of yours even thinks about entering you in the Chuunin exams.**"

Kurama's voice was oozing with his own pride at the boy. "**But, while you're doing that, visit the Hatake and ask him to buy you some **_**Fūton **_**scrolls. I suggest the C-rank scrolls to begin with, on top of the chakra training exercises you've been doing. Probably the **_**Fūton: Daitoppa **_**and **_**Fūton: Reppūshō **_**first; Daitoppa creates a sudden gust of wind and, because of your chakra levels, you could potentially destroy the enemy in one fell swoop! ****Reppūshō ****is compressed air that, when isolated, can turn into a gale. Combine this with the Uchiha's **_**Katon: Gōkakyū no Jutsu **_**and you have an inferno on your hands.**"

Naruto nodded again. "How would we go about training Sakura and Sasuke up?"

"**Teach the Uchiha _Kage Bunshin_. Have him drain his chakra down and it'll build back up, more and more. Have him train with you and distance yourself from him-**"

"I won't do that!" Naruto objected angrily.

"**Then... Make him see you as a rival and a bestfriend; make him work to catch up with you. While he's doing this, you'll only be getting stronger and this should, hopefully, piss him off more and more until he puts his all into getting stronger.**** The Haruno will be difficult; break her out of the _Sasuke-kun _stage and introduce her into some Kunoichi. Have her cut her hair or tie it back; right now she can be grabbed by her hair and then you could have a hostage situation on your hands. She needs to lose the red. Buy her some fishnet mesh and bandages to cover herself up, head to toe. Then, maybe lycra shorts and vest, covered by a thick jacket or a dark coloured ****cheongsam. Just make sure she isn't too revealing for obvious reasons. **

******As for training... Get her some weights, too. We need to build her physical strength and get her eating meats for protein. She has near perfect chakra control but she can still be trained to do her taijutsu katas on water. We need to change her taijutsu style! Preferably something fluid and smooth, like a dance. She has the potential to be a mini-Tsunade, judging by the hits she's landed on you. She confuses me. If you can push her to train and work harder, she could become** _**great**._"

Naruto nodded and opened his eyes. "Uzumaki-san," Sakura began, shuffling nervously. "I'm sorry-"

"It's fine," he interrupted her. "This test that sensei is doing is about teamwork. Sasuke, you and I will need to work as a _team_ to do this," Here Naruto pointedly looked at Sasuke. "Once we find out the test, we hide. I am going to rightfully assume that this test will involve fighting sensei so," Naruto knelt down and began drawing a rough map of the area they were in. He marked a big **x** near the river close by. "We meet her after five minutes of waiting for sensei's move. We _do **not **_engage him. He is the elite of the _elite_. Once we know where he is, Sasuke engages him in contact." Naruto roughly marked out an **o **where Kakashi should be. He then used a to indicate Sasuke coming in from the right. He used a **u **to indicate Sakura, who would move in from the left after Sasuke began to falter. "Sasuke, you go in from the right. Sakura, when Sasuke begins to falter, you throw shuriken into sensei's general direction. No doubt he will use a _kawarimi_ to replace himself with either Sasuke or a log. In either case, we will switch Sasuke with a _kage bunshin _that has been _henge_'d into Sasuke to attack. There will also be _henge_'d logs around; if he chooses any, it will be me and I will mob him with clones. You and Sasuke will use this opportunity to get sensei _t__tebayo!_"**  
**

He marked himself with three lines, directly above the **o**. "If this doesn't work, we regroup here," He marked an **x** near the top of the training area. "And we wait for sensei to come to us."

Kakashi watched on in thought. Naruto had come up with that in less than a minute, talking rapidly to the pair who were nodding along. It _was _a good plan... but he spoke too loudly. He leapt into the map, smirking down at the blond haired boy. "That's a good plan Naruto, but you won't need to fight me."

"What do we need to do, then?" Sasuke asked, frowning.

"Nothing!" Kakashi smiled. "You three just need to train together and learn each others strengths and weaknesses for the next week."

"What?" Sakura asked loudly.

"You pass!" Kakashi grinned and left the three in confusion.

"O-kay..." Naruto grinned, shaking his head. Kakashi-senpai was so _weird_. "Sakura, we need to go to your shop. I'm giving you a makeover."

Sakura didn't object, allowing herself to be dragged up by the small boy. Sasuke followed the pair; he was going to abuse the privilege that had been bestowed on him and make them regret ever hurting Naruto.

They reached the Haruno shop in five minutes, Sakura chatting Naruto's ear off. The boy pushed her in first and grabbed Sasuke's hand; the assistants here hated him.

"What do we need then, Uzumaki-san?" Sakura smiled, her green eyes glinting in the bright light.

Naruto got a wicker shopping basket and began loading it with the finely made kunai and shuriken. "Sasuke, get two more wicker baskets for you and me." Naruto commanded, placing four arm holders in the basket that were also fitted with hidden kunai mechanisms. They allowed easy extraction and retraction of kunai. "We need a lot of things Sakura-chan!"

Sakura's eyes widened at the use of the suffix, before she nodded and grinned widely. "Where is the female clothing?" he asked her distractedly, placing a box of affinity papers into the basket.

The girl took his arm carefully, pulling him over to the right side of the store. He grinned and asked her, her size in clothing. "I'm an extra small," she told him proudly before faltering. "But I want to be medium. I want to be a good kunoichi but... I have hardly any energy," she confessed. "Because I'm forever dieting to impress boys."

"Boys don't like girls who are skinny." Naruto glared at the girl. "I would rather have a girl who took her training seriously than a girl who had to be reliant on others!"

Sakura nodded and smiled. "Then will you help me?"

"Of course! We'll buy you some weights and find out your chakra affinity, teach you as many jutsu's as possible while also getting you to learn genjutsu and medical jutsu..." Naruto rambled on, pulling down a black and green cheongsam. On a normal, healthy fit girl it would reach just below the knees and wouldn't fit to the skin, but still show the body. It was a matte black with green threading and small, green flowers. On Sakura, it was very baggy but that could be fixed. He got six more, all black but with different colours of flowers and thread.

The boy pulled out some metal wire-lined mesh body suits and also got twenty rolls of fifty foot bandages. "Why do you need so many things?" Sakura asked curiously, her head cocked.

"Bad things happen to kunoichi on missions, Sakura-chan." Naruto told her solemnly. "I do not want you to be hurt, so we're going to make it so you _can't_ be. Kunoichi like Ino, who flash their bodies... I'm not being horrible, but she could get hurt in the worst way possible. Until you can take down several enemies, you will be wrapped like a mummy and _then some_."

Sakura nodded again, worrying her lip. Ino used to be her friend and she couldn't let her get hurt. "Do you think, if I asked Kakashi-sensei, he'd have a word with her sensei? She won't listen to me..."

"You could ask Sasuke nicely, too." Naruto smiled at the girl, his eyes crinkling. "She'll listen to him, if he pushes her hard enough."

Sakura nodded and pulled the boy over to the shoes. "I was thinking of getting some shinobi boots for in the village, but heeled. They strengthen the legs and if you can run in heels, you can run in anything! I'd get boots for missions, minus the heels and probably capped..."

"That sounds good," Naruto paused and looked around. "Do you not sell weights?"

Sakura placed four pairs of shoes into the basket, making it bulge. "We do, but why do you need them?"

"We all need them!" he declared. "Take me to them?"

She frowned and nodded, taking him to the darker part of the store. "We'll start small," Naruto told her carefully. "Don't worry."

He got three sets of leg weights and six sets of arm weights. They all had empty sockets in them, probably for putting your own weights in. "These could probably go up to three hundred pounds!" he began, excited.

"They can go up to five hundred pounds." Sakura told him absent-mindedly, picking out nine fifteen pound weights and placing them into the basket. Naruto groaned and poured chakra into his arms; he wasn't that strong! She picked out more fifteen pound weights, until the leg weights could hold up to one hundred and fifty pounds and the arm weights sixty pounds. "We can come back for more weights if we need them."

Naruto nodded and placed the heavy basket on the counter. He was honestly surprised it didn't break under the weight. "Do you sell hair ties, too?"

Sakura frowned, touching her hair. "But-"

"If someone were to come up behind you and grab your hair, you could be taken hostage." Sasuke piped up, placing two bulging baskets on the counter. One basket was full of clothing and dried foods, while the other had three black back-bags in and over twenty scrolls. "I'm going to get more weapons, okay?" The boy walked away, regardless of Naruto replying or not.

Sakura pouted; if she was going to serious about being a ninja, she would do this. "We don't need to buy any, I have some at home."

"Sakura... Can we trim your hair, too, _t__tebayo_? As it is, it's very long. We'd only cut it to the middle of your back, but..."

The girl sighed and nodded. "Mika-san!" she yelled angrily. "We are _waiting_!"

A large girl bounded into the room. "S-sorry, Sakura-sama-"

"You will be," she told the other girl. "You should _never _leave the shop unattended. What would otousan say?"

The girl nodded and looked down, ashamed. "These are all free," Mika murmured. "Would you like me to-"

Sasuke dumped another basket onto the counter, full of weapons and tags. Naruto could see three katanas and holsters, two tantōs that could be looped into the katana holsters and one ninjatō that could be sealed away. He could also see several blood-replenishing pills, smoke bombs, fire bombs, soldier pills, coils of wire, bandages and several rolls of tape.

Mika's eyes bulged. "Ah- Would you like me to bag them?"

"No." Sakura glared at the girl. She really, really did not like her. "We'll take the baskets and leave if that is okay?"

Sakura didn't bother to wait for a reply and sent her chakra to her arms, easily grabbing two of the baskets and leaving the store. Naruto got the remaining basket and left, following the girl to a large training ground. She sat down and crossed her arms.

"What's up, Sakura-chan?"

"My mother likes Mika more than me," she confessed. "Because- I don't know. She's prettier than me?"

Naruto looked at Sasuke for help. Uchiha Mikoto was a beautiful woman who didn't favour one child over another, even with Naruto who had been adopted into the clan and she had immediately bonded to him... How were they supposed to cope with a girl who's mother favoured a _stranger _over her own blood?

"If she's like that, Sakura-san, then you don't need her now you have us." Kakashi called.

The Genin jumped as one. They slowly turned their heads to see their cheerful sensei hanging upside down from a tree, reading his little orange book. "Oh, have you been shopping?" he asked, leaping down and appearing in front of them.

They jumped again. "Wha-" Sakura began, pointing from the tree and to his current position, incredulous.

"Oh, this is nice!" Kakashi grinned holding up one of the dresses. "Isn't it a bit big for you, Sakura?"

"Ah- I'm going to put on weight." she stammered.

The man nodded while Sasuke looked at her thoughtfully. "Eat plenty of meats and vegetables to get your vitamins; I suggest a Naruto handful of each vegetable," Naruto held his hand up for her to see. "And a Sasuke handful of different meats." Sasuke held up his hand, which was a lot larger than Naruto's. "I also recommend that you eat plenty of fruits and I'll ask the Akimichi's for some help. Because of their techniques, they have to be big."

The man sat down and began rooting through their purchases. "Oh, chakra papers!" He ripped open the packaging and handed each of the Genins three papers. "You've got the good kind, too. These tell you your main affinity and they can, if you _do _have a second or third affinity, tell you what they are as well."

He held one of the papers up and channelled a small amount of chakra into it. The paper began to wrinkle and crease. "My primary affinity is lightning." He dropped that sheet and picked up another, pouring more chakra into it. The paper began to crumble and turned into dirt. "My secondary affinity is earth." He picked up another piece of paper and the paper began to get damp. "My tertiary affinity is water. I can, however, use fire techniques, even though it isn't one of my main affinities. It drains more chakra out of me if I do so."

Sasuke smirked and channelled chakra into one of the pieces. The paper ignited and turned to ash. "Your main nature type is fire." Kakashi noted. Sasuke picked up another piece of paper and this one wrinkled and creased. "Lightning!" Kakashi sounded quite shocked. "Well, that means I have things I can teach you!" The boy picked up another piece and the paper didn't change at all. "Two affinities, that's good."

Sakura hm'ed and poured a tiny amount of chakra into the paper. It began to dampen. "Water as your main..." She used another piece of paper and this one crumbled into dirt. "Earth as your secondary..." She did the same to another piece of paper and it did nothing. "Again, that's good!"

Naruto grinned and powered chakra into a piece. It split down in the middle. "Wind?" Kakashi's eye widened. "That's _rare_." he breathed. "The only known users within the past twenty years are Namikaze Minato and Sarutobi Asuma!" he told the boy cheerfully.

"See, Sasuke! I'm better than you!" the boy stuck his tongue out, only for it to be captured in Sasuke's fingers and _pulled_. "Ow-!" he yelped.

Sasuke smirked and let the tongue go, wiping his hand on the grass. Naruto pouted but poured chakra into another piece of paper. The paper began to dampen. "Water! Just like the Uzumaki's, huh?" _Kushina would be so happy_...

Naruto perked up and looked at the man expectantly. He put his book away and told the Genin about Uzushiogakure and the strong ties between Konohagakure because of the Uzumaki clan. "-and those from the Uzumaki clan are renowned for their long lives and massive chakra reserves. However, they were destroyed because they also knew anything and everything to do with fūinjutsu."

Naruto listened with wide eyes. "Do you know who my mother is, Kakashi-sensei?"

"Your mother... She was a beautiful woman with this long, gorgeous red hair and pretty blue eyes. She was well known for her beauty. She was strong and was a sneaky fighter; I can remember we were sparring once and she threw dirt in my eyes before pinning me down with a kunai to my neck! She was a vicious little thing," Kakashi laughed, his eye suspiciously shiny. "She had this nervous tick in her speech- she always said _ttebane_! It was a game to get her flustered or excited, because the tick came out and it was just so funny to us. She had hoped that it wouldn't get passed down to you, Naruto, but it didn't really work out, did it?"

Naruto grinned and the knowledge was stored away. He grabbed another piece of paper enthusiastically and the paper began to set alight, burning into a boiling inferno before crumbling in the boys hands. "That's a fire affinity, but it's... different." Kakashi frowned, telling himself he'd have to figure it out later.

"**That's where I come in,**" the Kyuubi murmured in Naruto's mind. "**It's _Scorch _release. I didn't think you'll be able to use it at all, but I think we can train you to use it as well as your main affinity if we had the time.**"

"_What does it do?_"

"**It's, obviously, very hot. It's classed as a _kekkai genkai _but because of me, you have the ability to use it. It heats up an enemy to the point of liquefying their insides and, if you've already wounded them, their innards will be pulled out. I can teach you the techniques.**"

Naruto blinked and opened his eyes at his sensei. "What else have you bought?" Kakashi asked curiously, emptying the wicker baskets.

"We've got Sakura a change of outfit." Naruto told the man, holding up the boots and the meshes.

"Why so many bandages?" Sasuke asked, beginning to shift through their 'purchases'.

"So that I'm protected." Sakura murmured, getting one of the back-bags that Sasuke had gotten. She folded the dresses up neatly and placed them at the bottom of the bag, before folding the fishnet and placing that over them. She packed in the bandages and the boots and moved onto the scrolls.

"I grabbed all the scrolls I could find," Sasuke confessed. "I've got several fighting styles and technique scrolls."

The boy began packing Naruto's bag, filling it with weapons and _Fūton _scrolls. He split the _Suiton _scrolls in two and handed Naruto the A-B ranked ones, giving Sakura the basic C-D ranked ones. She frowned but didn't complain; she knew that Naruto had more chakra than possibly Iruka and Mizuki-sensei combined and knew he'd need the harder ones first.

Sasuke passed Sakura the _Mizu no Odori _scroll. "I think that this style would be best suited to you. It uses legs to slip around opponents and then fists to take them down." Sakura grinned and nodded.

"Thanks." She pressed it into her bag and found the _Doton _scrolls, carefully placing them so that her bag didn't bulge. She hooked the loops together and tested the weight of it.

"There's also some genjutsu scrolls," Sasuke frowned, placing them into a wicker basket. "They're all high-level, I think. You're the top civilian kunoichi of our year, so I think you can get them down."

He loaded the basket with boxes of shuriken, kunai and one of the holsters. He carefully placed the pink-wrapped katana in there and a tantō. He pulled out three boxes of pills, put them in the basket and then put two boxes of bombs in there. Kakashi watched the proceedings carefully.

Naruto was shining out as a team leader and Sasuke was the mother hen. Sakura would probably be their defender and the one that could attack from long-distance. "I think you'll be good as a team," he told them, shifting. "Because you all compliment each other, with your affinities and general personalities."

Naruto smiled at him. "Does this mean you'll treat us to ramen?"

"No!" he chirped, gleeful.

Sasuke had continued to sort out the bags and baskets until everything was cleared. He pulled out one large sealing scroll and a smaller one.

He rolled them out and placed Naruto's wicker basket onto one of the seals, the bag nestled in the basket, before doing the same with his own. He sealed them away quickly, rolling the scroll up and putting it into his pocket. He then unravelled the other, taking Sakura's things and placing them onto the sealing pad. He sealed it away and handed the girl the scroll.

"Right!" Kakashi clapped his hands together. "You three, take a kunai," He handed them each a kunai. "And I want you to master the tree-walking exercise. You power chakra to your feet and walk up and down."

"Sensei, Naruto and I have already done this."

"Oh. Have you done the water walking?" Kakashi asked the boys.

"Yes." Naruto huffed. Kakashi took back his kunai and told Sakura to start walking up and down the tree.

"Then we're going to start training your affinities."

Kakashi handed the boys a leaf each. "Naruto, I want you to focus on sharpening your chakra until you can split the leaf in half. Sasuke, I want you to burn the leaf from the inside out."

Naruto nodded and attempted to do it, only to hit a brick wall. He growled and made well over four hundred clones, all focussed on splitting the leaf.

Sakura had mastered the exercise within five minutes and was now working on the water-walking. "Please could someone give me a tip?" she cried, dragging herself out of the river.

"The water is constantly changing around you. What should you change to combat that?" Kakashi hinted ominously.

"My... Chakra?" Her eyes brightened as she got an epiphany.

Several clones popped out of existence as they managed to split the leaf a centimetre down the middle. Naruto's eyes widened and he powered more chakra into it, trying to create a loop. He made it so the chakra was rubbing against itself, creating a sharp niche down the middle and slowly but surely, the split began to extend. More and more clones popped out of existence.

"Done it!" Sasuke yelled, nursing his burnt hands.

Kakashi grinned and ruffled the boys hair. "Now, I want you to burn it from the outside in!" he told him cheerfully.

Sakura laughed as she began to run on the water. "I've done it, sensei!"

"Good girl!" Kakashi smirked at Naruto, who was growing increasingly frustrated. The leaf had been split down to the middle and now his previous technique wasn't working. "Now, I want you to practice your taijutsu katas on the water until you can fight an invisible enemy successfully!"

She did as he instructed, feeling her chakra begin to strain. She pushed through, making a leaping kick and twisting onto her hands, switching the chakra when she was in the air.

The rest of the clones poofed away and Naruto realised what was going wrong. By making the loop, he was using a short cut that was very, very wrong. He had to make his chakra go in opposite directions to each other to sharpen it. Once he'd sharpened the chakra, then he could split the leaf.

He sharpened it and the leaf split. "I did it? I did it!" he yelled, jumping up.

"Well done, Naruto!" Kakashi eye-smiled. "Now, I want you to watch me make a water clone."

Kakashi made the tiger seal and began to build his chakra. "_Mizu Bunshin no Jutsu_," he murmured and the chakra that had been building, around a tenth of the man's full chakra, was expelled into a water clone. "Now I want you to copy me!"

Naruto nodded and began building his chakra, a fifth of his normal chakra level. He made the tiger seal and thought of the water clone; it's body was solely water but it was Naruto. "_Mizu Bunshin no Jutsu_!" he called out and twenty blobs of water appeared around him, holding for a second before dropping to the ground.

The boy grimaced. "Naruto, I need you to _focus_ on making them being _clones_. It's nothing like a shadow clone. You have to turn your chakra into water and then make it into a physical body. It has to be solid."

Naruto nodded and tried again, placing his hands in the tiger seal and this time, one full, blue clone appeared. Naruto grinned and poked it, only for his hand to go all the way through it and dispel the clone.

Kakashi snorted. "You got the outside down but it was reflecting the colour of your chakra." The man looked at the sky and sighed. "It's around half past one in the day, now. Naruto, if you don't have this down by five o'clock, I won't teach you how to use the wind nature in a battle." the man declared.

"Could you do it again, Kakashi-sensei?" Naruto panted.

* * *

When five o'clock came around, Sakura was exhausted, mastering the water walking exercise and _Doton: Shinjū Zanshu no Jutsu_, Sasuke had learned _Katon: Endan _and _Katon: Hōsenka no Jutsu_ and Naruto had learned _Mizu Bunshin no Jutsu_,_ Suiton: Teppōdama _and _Suiton: Mizurappa_.

Kakashi nodded at the three. "You've all done exceptionally well today! I want you three to learn **five **techniques and be able to run at your normal speed, in your weights."

Naruto grimaced and nodded. He'd be fine, probably running faster as Kyuubi would heal the torn muscles and making them stronger but... Sasuke and Sakura would struggle.

"Also, tomorrow we're starting missions, so you'll have to do the training in your own times!" Kakashi eye-smiled before disappearing in a poof of smoke.

Sakura groaned. "I'm going home and I'm having a hot bath," she told the boys and began to walk away. "Thank you, for today."

Naruto smiled and turned to the Uchiha. "Want to go home and put the weights on?" Sasuke nodded and the pair rushed off, eating a meal of salmon and vegetables before putting the weights on.

Naruto immediately felt the difference. It took him a while to even lift his leg at fifteen pounds but Sasuke had managed to bump himself up to thirty pounds, walking around like nothing was wrong. _Bastard_.

Naruto bumped himself up to forty five pounds on his legs and fifteen pounds on his arms and began the slow run around the Uchiha estate.

"**Kid, to help you master your elements, it'd be better if you submerged yourself in them. Right now, you're surrounded by wind. Use it to your advantage.**"

Naruto paused and nodded, threading his chakra through the air. The wind liked the new challenge and began to dance around him, nipping at his bandanna and his clothes, coursing around his body... His chakra responded and created new hurdles for the wind to fight through.

Naruto began running, eyes closed. He was using the wind itself to tell him where to go, where to jump... He ran five laps around the Uchiha estate before Kurama spoke up again.

"**Tiger, ox, dog, rabbit, snake**!"

Naruto followed the symbols, his eyes still closed. He paused. "_Fūton: Daitoppa_!" he whispered, pouring chakra into the wind and feeling it respond to his demands. The wind gushed, plowing down several trees and making a large crack into one of the walls in the Uchiha home. He opened his eyes and grimaced. _Sasuke will hate me for that one_!

Naruto carried on running, the wind spurring him on. He ran fifty laps around the area, his legs getting tired. He dragged himself to the Uchiha training grounds, doing basic stretches to stop his muscles from clamping. The wind laughed around him, aiding his punches he shot at the post.

He finished the five hundred punches quickly, two hundred and fifty per each arm. His arm muscles were _tired_. He couldn't even hold his arms up!

"**Clap your hands together**!"

Naruto did as Kurama asked, ignoring the pain in his arms. The wind curled around him, cradling him like a child. "_Fūton: Reppūshō_!" Naruto whispered, gathering his chakra and threading into his hands. The wind responded to him, tightly winding in his hands. He could feel the hum, the wind trying to escape from his tight grip but not wanting to upset this new Wind user. He pulled his hands apart, unaware of the large ball of chakra left behind. The wind giggled and leapt into the ball. He slapped his hands together again and held them up. Finally, finally, he let the wind go.

The posts were obliterated in the aftermath, trees getting blown over from the sheer _power _behind the attack.

Naruto bit down on his lips, his eyes wide. "Wow!"

He stumbled back to the main Uchiha house and removed his sandals at the door, dragging himself to bed. He removed his bandanna and clothes before slumping into the soft bed.

* * *

"NARUTO!" Sasuke roared, dumping a bucket of ice cold water on the sleeping boy. "_What did you do to my training ground?!_"

Naruto winced. "I was practising a _Fūton_ jutsu!" the boy stammered, looking up the furious boy. "I'm sorry-"

Sasuke sighed and dropped to his knees, wrapping his arms around the boy. "I'm sorry. It's just-"

Naruto realised what the problem was. Sasuke used to train there with his father and took immaculate care of the area. Naruto had destroyed it.

"I'm sorry!"

After a rocky morning, Sasuke and Naruto were on their way to the Hokage tower to receive their new mission. On the way, they met with Sakura. She was wearing her normal cheongsam, fishnet that extended into her high-heeled boots, leg weights visible over the boots, arm weights kept on her upper arm and tight black shorts beneath her dress. The biggest change was her face and hair. She had forgone the make up and was plain faced, showing her pink eyelashes and eyebrows. Her hair was tied back into a tight bun and her bangs, only slightly shorter than her typical hair, were pulled back as well. She wore her hitai-ate around her forehead.

"Good morning, boys!" she chirped.

"Good morning, Sakura-chan!" Naruto grinned. "You look better like that."

"The weights make me feel silly, but I need them!" She laughed, walking at a slow pace.

"We all need them." Sasuke interjected, his dark eyes unusually bright.

They reached the tower slowly, accepting the D-ranked mission. They had to paint a house white with blue shutters.

They completed the task in two hours and the owner of the house thanked them profusely, handing them each five ryo. They thanked the man and hurried back to the tower, handing in the mission scroll. They each received a note with fifty ryo, liable for use all around the village. It could also be changed into actual coins by another booth.

"Is there anything else we can do?" Sakura asked politely.

"There's dog walking, a barn conversion, catching Tora the cat..." the assistant replied.

"Which one would you suggest?" Sasuke asked, leaning against the desk. He pulled on his hair, dislodging pieces of paint from his hair.

"Probably catching Tora. You get fifty ryo for catching the damn thing and it's a good teamwork exercise."

"How much do we get for the others?" Naruto asked, wrinkling his nose at the thought of cats. It'd be different if it was a fox because it'd leap into his arms and it'd all be fine, but animals like cats and dogs seemed to hate Naruto.

"Twenty ryo for the dog walking, forty ryo for the barn conversion."

"I need the money," Sakura looked pleadingly at the two. "Can we go for Tora?"

"Course!" Naruto nodded.

The assistant smirked, handing the three of them a headset each. "You'll need these to communicate. You need to get the pest by twelve o'clock midday."

The trio nodded, sliding the headsets on. "Where can the animal be found?"

"Training ground thirteen." the assistant replied, returning to his work and stamping a set of papers.

Sasuke nodded and led them to training ground thirteen. "The cat is in the right hand side of the trees."

Naruto gulped, eyeing the numerous cat scratches in the area.

By the time 12 o'clock rolled around, the cat had just been caught and the trio were covered in cats and welts.

"Gotta' get the cat back!" Naruto panted, clutching the cat with a devil's grip. The trio ran to the tower, bursting through the Hokage's door at 12:02.

There was a woman blubbering in a chair, her rotund face scrunched up in her 'grief'.

Sasuke rather likened her to a pug.

* * *

Naruto opened the _Raiton _scroll, instantly noting that there were less techniques on record for the lightning affinity. "Sasuke-kun, you're going to have to ask Kakashi-sensei about lightning. There's only a few techniques on here..."

Sasuke nodded, throwing the kunai at the tree. It hit the wood with a dull 'thunk'.

"What's the first one?" Sasuke yelled.

"_Raiton Kage Bunshin_! I think you'll have to learn regular _Kage __Bunshin _first but Ojiisan says I can't teach it to anyone!"

Sasuke cursed and asked for the next one. "_Raiton: Jibashi_! Boar, ram, snake, horse, dragon and then you pull your hands apart! Lightning is meant to shoot out of your hands!"

Sasuke did the seals carefully, building his chakra and then he quickly pulled his hands apart, creating a brief flash of lightning. "Urgh."

"Try pulling your hands slower," Sakura called from the river. She was now submerging herself in the river, feeling the waves splash over her. This was her first step to combining her chakra with water. Naruto thought of doing it, but decided he'd do it later. "And _feel _the lightning- the spark, the rush, the _power_!"

Sasuke breathed through his nose and did as she instructed, creating a massive _bang _of pure lightning that lit the training area. The boy grinned savagely. "Sakura, Naruto, I think that would be _brilliant _with a wet opponent!"

Naruto nodded and leapt to a tree close by, creating a water clone. He quickly realised they weren't as good as his shadow clones, but they were still good. The clone walked to the middle of the training area and Sasuke repeated the jutsu.

Naruto had to cover his eyes from the resulting flash and grinned. "That is great!"

"Next one?" Sasuke panted, feeling euphoric over his control.

"_Raiton: Shichū Shibari_!" Naruto told him, settling in the tree and reading through his _Suiton _scroll. "Ram, dog, boar, bird, hare."

"What does it do? It creates four pillars..."

"Four pillars surround the enemy and shoot bolts of lightning, immobilising the enemy and possibly damaging them." Naruto recited.

Kakashi poofed next to him. "Remember, you need to keep practising these. It doesn't matter how good you are, you need to remember both the hand signs and how to do the technique."

Naruto's attention was drawn to the rumbling in the ground. Two pillars shot out of the ground, shooting lightning around any which way. Naruto and Kakashi had to drop out of the tree they were in to avoid the lightning. Kakashi shot his hands to the ground and the lightning was grounded.

"Sasuke, I don't want you to do that if you're not at full chakra. Two hundred laps around the training area." Sasuke grimaced but did as Kakashi ordered.

"Now, Naruto, what have you learned so far?" Kakashi turned to Naruto with an expectant look on his face.

Naruto gathered his chakra, feeling the wind create a protective cocoon around their new _child_. He ran through the tiger, ox, dog, rabbit and snake handseals quickly and murmured, "_Fūton: Daitoppa_." He pulled his hands apart and the wind responded wildly, pushing against the trees thirty feet away and blowing the leaves off of some of the trees.

Kakashi let out a low whistle. "You used a minimal amount of chakra in that, too... How'd you manage that?"

"Kurama-sensei said I should become one with my affinity so I did. The wind did as it wanted."

Kakashi tapped the boy on the head sharply. "**You **should control the element, the element shouldn't control you!"

Naruto frowned and nodded. The boy gathered more chakra this time and clapped his hands together, his eyes sliding shut. "_Fūton: Reppūshō_." he breathed out, feeling the wind gather between his hands. He pulled them apart and slammed them together, releasing a concentrated gush of wind. The trees that had lost their leaves groaned and collapsed back.

Kakashi smirked. "You're good Naruto, but can you remember the techniques I taught you yesterday?"

Naruto nodded, creating four water clones. He made the tiger seal and whispered,"_Suiton: Teppōdama_." He kneaded his chakra into water and created a hand sized bullet. He repeated the process and made sixteen more bullets, all landing in the destroyed trees. Kakashi nodded. "You've got good distance and speed on them; if you can get them that bit faster then they'll be excellent."_  
_

"To make them faster I need to make them smaller," Naruto whined.

"Make them smaller, then. If you can get them fast enough to damage a human body, they'd be unstoppable."

Naruto nodded and sighed. He ran through the dragon, tiger and hare handseals, building chakra up in his stomach. "_Suiton: Mizurappa_." It changed into water and he expelled it from his body. The wave shot out over fifteen feet in a wide spray.

He then went through the dragon, tiger and rabbit handseals, building up more chakra in his stomach. "_Suiton: Mizurappa_." He puckered his lips and wrapped his fingers around the lips. He leapt up and gushed the water out, creating a 'trumpet' of water. The earth was destroyed, becoming a massive pool of mud.

"Good boy. Now, five hundred laps around the training area."

Naruto gaped but complied.

Sakura climbed out of the water. "How many laps do I do, sensei?" She removed her vest top, revealing a sports vest and she tugged on her black shorts. She put her weights on and looked at the man expectantly.

"Do... Two hundred crunches, fifty punches per arm, fifty kicks per leg, another fifty arm punches, fifty kicks and then do one hundred laps, _running_."

Sakura was ready to object, but she thought of what the _Mind _woman had said last night.

"_Your team is there to support you and make you stronger. Your task for a week is to not disagree with anything your team says. If we see an attitude change within the month, we'll speak to the Hokage and see if we can make it just a month_."

She nodded with renewed vigour, beginning her crunches.

Naruto passed her twelve times in the time it took her to do her crunches. She moved onto the punches, keeping her arm steady.

Sasuke passed her four times in the time it took her to do the hundred punches and she moved onto the kicks, amusing herself by imagining it was Kakashi's face.

She began to tire when she had to repeat the punches but carried on regardless, doing two hundred punches this time. She repeated the kicks and did two hundred of those.

When she began her laps, Naruto was on his three hundred and sixth while Sasuke was on his one hundred and first. Her _Uchi Naru Sakura _was disgusted and annoyed but Sakura pushed past those homicidal thoughts and began to jog.

"Sakura, I said run!" Kakashi shouted.

"But if I run I'll tire too quickly-"

"You're a ninja! Power through it!"

Sakura nodded and sped up, beginning to run at the speed Naruto was running at. She soon surpassed him and she grinned, despite the fact that she was sweaty and grimy and probably red-faced and panting.

She completed her laps in forty minutes, finishing after Sasuke had finished. Naruto was on lap four hundred and ninety six.

"Come on Naruto!" she cheered him on loudly. Naruto had only ever been kind to her, but she had abused him and treated him like a vicious mutt. It was then she decided she would protect him from _everything_.

He grinned at her encouragement, sweat pouring down his forehead even though the wind was trying its hardest to push him along and cool him down. He finished the laps and collapsed onto Sasuke's equally collapsed body. The other boy groaned but showed no other reaction.

"Well done!" Kakashi beamed. "Now, who wants some barbecue?"

Naruto leapt up and pulled Sasuke with him, offering Sakura his other free hand.

She took it gratefully, getting her cheongsam and half-heartedly pulling it on. It wasn't firmly secured but it'd do. She stepped into her shoes and yawned, popping out the bones in her back.

She took Naruto's hand again and stumbled into the village, acutely aware of the glares Naruto was receiving.

"Damn demon doesn't deserve to be happy," She heard a man whisper. "Piece of _shit_."

"Pardon me?" Sakura snarled at the man, letting go of the boy's hand and slamming her fist into the man's face. "That is **my **teammate you are insulting and if you, _anyone _does it again, I swear to Kami-sama on this man's blood, I will _**kill**_** you.**" She declared, glaring at anyone and everyone who dared look in their direction.

"Sakura-chan..." Naruto whispered, smiling softly at her. "You didn't have to do that."

Sakura snarled at him, too. She shook her head and the anger left her body. She took his hand again and let Kakashi lead the way to the restaurant. He eyed her nervously from the corner of his eye but said nothing about her lapse in her anger.

They got seated at a table quickly, behind Asuma and his team. "Hey, forehead girl!" Ino smirked nastily at the girl.

"Shut up, Ino-_pig_." Sasuke spat at her and the girl reared back as if physically struck.

"How about you stop with the bitchy pet names, Yamanaka-san?" Naruto said quietly, his blue eyes dead as he stared at her. "Because I can guarantee, we will come after you if you so much as _think _of Sakura in such a way again. She is our teammate now and if you continue to hold childish grudges, we will take it as a personal stub against our team. Okay?"

The girl blinked furiously. Asuma put his hands up in a placating gesture. "Kid, she didn't mean anything by-"

"Asuma-san, with all due respect Sakura is upset right now." Kakashi butted in, putting his little orange book away. "And so are Naruto and Sasuke. I apologise for their cruel words but I do not apologise for the fact that you have a-"

"Spineless Genin," Naruto coughed.

"Bullying little brat," Sasuke coughed harder, his dark eyes betraying his amusement.

"All of the above?" Sakura laughed.

"-_immature little girl _on your team. Perhaps you could teach her to control her mouth?"

Asuma sighed. "I need a cig."

"This is so troublesome," Shikimaru groaned. "Sakura-san, I apologise if my teammates words have upset you."

"It's fine," Sakura spoke breezily, sitting down and pulling the little blond boy beside her. "Thank you." she whispered to the three. Kakashi nodded and Sasuke gave her a tiny little smirk. Naruto squeezed her hand.

"Can I ask what meats you'll be having?" A man with a pad of paper asked.

"Chicken, beef, pig, anything." Kakashi waved his hand. "Gotta' have some squid, too. Better yet, just give us one of your jumbo servings."

The man nodded and left the table, returning with a large tray full of meat.

"That'll be eleven ryo, please." The man placed a smaller tray on the table. Sasuke placed five ryo on the bill and Naruto followed suit, the pair turning to look at Kakashi as one.

Kakashi eye-smiled and put another ryo on there, before declaring loftily. "Let's eat!"

They ate the meat in a comfortable silence. Despite the rocky beginning, they were a team now and it couldn't be changed. _I don't think I want to change it,_ Naruto thought happily, chewing on the squid.

Sasuke was sticking to the tuna, grilling it to an inch of its life before chewing it with pleasure. Sakura was taking pieces of everything, mainly pork cutlets, squid, chicken and shrimp.

Kakashi was also having bits of everything, eating with a small but strong genjutsu over his face, concealing his features from view.

"When we're done, we're going to spar!" Kakashi told them gleefully, dunking a piece of raw steak into a small pot of miso paste, placing it on his section of the grill.

"Can we head by the Haruno grocery store first? I want to make some chankonabe for Sakura-chan." Naruto chirped, scoffing down his pieces of meat.

Kakashi nodded and finished his pieces too. "You'll have to put the stuff in the fridge so instead of sparring... Let's cook!" Kakashi grinned beneath his mask. He's had his kids for two days and they were already improving; he just needed to find out their weaknesses and remove them, increase their chakra levels or their level of control, build up their physical strength and then expand on their strengths! They'd already improved in the time that he's had them!

"You're lazy." Sasuke declared and he finished his meat too, looking at Sakura.

Sakura ate demurely, but finished the remaining pieces of meat. Naruto and Sasuke slid out of their chairs, feeling better now that they had something in them.

They got to the separate store quickly, Sakura glaring and snarling at anyone who looked at the team. Naruto was quite touched by it; Sakura had done a complete 180 and he hoped it was the beginning of something brilliant.

Sakura got two wicker baskets and handed one to the smaller blond. He got two packets of chicken, chicken stock, radish, potatoes, onions, mushrooms, carrots, cabbage and a packet of udon noodles. He also got a packet of boneless fish and a large piece of beef.

He got a box of spices and decided he was going to make some gyoza, too. Sakura said she wanted to boost her weight to build her strength and energy, then he'd boost her weight. It was no hardship; he loved to cook.

He stocked up on fruits and berries, especially on tomatoes. Sasuke loaded in the grains and dropped a large bag of rice in the basket. "I wonder if they have seaweed?"

"Of course they will, Sasuke!" Kakashi shook his head at the boy, pointing out the shrink-wrapped seaweed directly in front of him. The boy flushed and glared at his sensei.

Sakura came to them with a basket full of vegetables and food items in general, like eggplant, tofu and noodles. "Do you like green tea?" Naruto asked her, fingering the packets of tea leaves.

"I love green tea." He nodded and put six packets into the basket.

"Do you like pork? Teriyaki?"

She nodded the affirmative and he pushed Sasuke in the direction of meats.

He returned with pork, tuna steaks, salmon and different types of fish. "I think we have enough," Naruto mused, looking between the two baskets. "Oh! We need some eggs!"

The boy hurried away and returned with some eggs and different types of beans.

They nodded to the shop assistant and left for the Uchiha estate.

"You live here?" Sakura asked curiously, looking around. It was very open, but very enclosed by over grown trees.

"Yeah," Sasuke murmured, sliding open the main house door and removing his shoes. The three followed suit and Sakura placed the basket on the floor. She removed her cheongsam and hung it on the hanger. "Follow me to the kitchen."

Sakura got the basket and followed him, Naruto pausing and asking Kakashi to remove his flak jacket. The man handed him the jacket and looked around. He was no stranger to the _estate_ but he was a stranger to the main house. Obito was part of the lower families and he was rarely allowed Kakashi or Rin round.

Naruto took the man to the kitchen, sitting him down on one of the seats and he unloaded the baskets, asking Sakura what she would like. "Nothing, Naruto-kun."

He grinned at the use of her suffix and began making the chankonabe. He cut the chickens apart, keeping the skin on the breasts. He de-boned the legs and chunked the meat into 2-inch slices. He sliced the radishes and potatoes, quartered the onions and he removed the stems from the mushrooms, slicing them in half. He then fried the tofu after cutting it into small chunks, making sure it was lightly browned. He shredded the cabbage into small pieces, so it'd be easier to cook. Sasuke had been cutting and preparing the other vegetables bought in the mean time.

Sasuke cooked the udon noodles, drained them and left them to cool. Sasuke then boiled water. Naruto added the radishes and the potatoes in and left them to boil. The taller boy fried the chicken, making sure it was cooked all the way throguh before draining the oil.

The boy unconsciously pushed the bigger boy out of the way with his hip, boiling the chicken stock and adding in the vegetables Sasuke had prepared. He also added the tofu and chicken, leaving it to simmer for fifteen minutes.

"Kushina was a terrible cook," Kakashi told him off-handedly. "I don't know where you've gotten this from."

"Probably ojiisan or Anko-ane. Itachi-ani couldn't cook to save his life and okaasan never let me near her when she cooked because she was constantly worrying about us." Naruto shrugged.

"It was probably otousan," Sasuke mused. "He used to let us watch when he cooked and you were more into it than I ever was. Otousan used to carry you on his shoulders and everything!" Sasuke laughed, thinking back on the memories.

Sakura's curiosity was piqued. Sasuke was so much more open than when he was in the academy.

They were talking about nothing when the fifteen minute mark came up.

Naruto quickly finished the chankonabe and sealed it away into a food storage scroll. He handed the scroll to Sakura with a happy smile on his face and he slipped his bandanna off. Sakura gazed at the long, blond spikey hair. It reminded her of the Yondaime's hair, but slightly longer at the sides.

Her bemusement was short lived as he span around and began making the gyozas.

"After this," Kakashi began. "We're going to go on any available mission and work at it as a team."

The three of them nodded, Naruto quickly pan frying the gyoza and handing them out.

* * *

Kakashi had made them do the barn conversion and dog-walking mission while he read his little orange book, making Naruto's eye twitch.

"Anko-ane would have a fit if she saw you reading that in front of me, oniisan." Naruto whispered to him, making sure that Sasuke and Sakura couldn't hear.

Naruto, when he was younger, was an attention seeking brat; he managed to slip laxatives into the water supply, he paint-bombed shops that refused to sell to him and he didn't care, running around with a daft grin on his face. He'd been adopted into the Uchiha's aged two, but Fugaku went through stages where he couldn't bare to look at him. So, Naruto acted out.

Animosity had rose in village as the pranks got more vicious as the boy grew up. Kakashi had been walking down the town, out of his ANBU gear to see a man hit Naruto on the head with a metal pole. Naruto had cried out and the man hit him harder, hitting him six times before Kakashi had twisted -and broke- the mans' arm. "_Thanks, oniisan_!" Naruto had grinned, showing bloody teeth and sharp canines.

"That's why she'll never know, right _otouto_?" Kakashi taunted.

Naruto flushed and pouted; Kakashi couldn't resist the bark of laughter and ruffled the boys hair.

"What are we doing tomorrow, Kakashi-sensei?" Sakura asked, doing some stretches after the dogs had pulled her _every where_.

Kakashi handed her a small slip of paper. On it, he'd marked out their training days, their mission days and their mission and training days. Sakura eyed it and nodded.

* * *

A month had gone by and Kakashi watched as his team changed around him.

Sakura now weighed a healthy 105 pounds, which had filled out her 4'8ft frame. She'd upped her weights to one hundred and twenty pounds on her legs and two hundred and ten pounds on her arms. Her arm strength had increased greatly; she was capable of shattering the ground beneath her in a forty foot radius, making it harder for Kakashi to attack from beneath them. She had a large range of ninjutsu had her disposal; Kakashi had gone about increasing her chakra levels before teaching anything too strenuous and her levels were now high-Chuunin level. She knew A-rank _Suiton_ techniques and B-rank _Doton _techniques, which she could also use efficiently in battle. She had also crammed on genjutsu, knowing B-rank illusions and how to use them effectively in battle. Her medic training had begun and she could heal minor wounds; this also qualified her to have a medical pouch so she had to make sure she was stocked up on anti-poisons and bandages.

Naruto had grown by three inches, making him 4'8ft tall. He could now run at a high-Chuunin levels with his two hundred and seventy pound weights and the weights on his arms were kept at a normal one hundred and fifty pounds. Kurama had stuck to this guns and taught Naruto all about Scorch release; Naruto had vowed to only use that it dire situations, because he couldn't get the idea of that poor cat turning into just skin and bones, its innards surrounding it in a mushy goo. He could use wind to a master scale and Kakashi had bought him two large fans to celebrate. His water affinity was slightly different; he hadn't mastered it, but the water seemed to like him and attacked the enemy by _itself_. Charged by his chakra, but it attacked itself. He, nevertheless, knew an S-rank _Suiton _technique and could use other _Suiton _techniques very well. His genjutsu had improved from watching Sakura; he couldn't cast illusions but he could dispel them and get his teammates out of them.

Sasuke had changed the most of all. He had learned Kakashi's _Chidori _and teamed up with Naruto to learn _Fūjin to Raijin no Jutsu_, where Naruto would create a giant tornado that spun towards the target and Sasuke would pump it full of his lightning. He had mastered the Fire element and was well on his way to mastering the Lightning element, making Naruto teach him the _Kage Bunshin _to speed up his training. The only downside was that he hadn't activated his Sharingan yet, so his genjutsu was terrible. He had surpassed Sakura in weights and he was slowly catching up to Naruto, who was constantly improving his weights.

Kakashi was debating between teaching Sasuke the Dog summon or letting Sakura learn it; Sasuke didn't seem like the type to use Hunting animals and the man knew he'd be more suited to the offensive Wolf animals. Sakura seemed like she would be suited to the Slug summon, but Tsunade refused to relinquish any control over the animals to anyone else, not even her apprentice.

He made up his mind quickly; he would teach them the summoning technique and let them be transported to their animal.

"Team! You have made astounding progress this past month and now, I have decided you can learn the Summoning technique."

Sasuke gazed at him in wonder. "Really?"

"Really!"

"What are you talking about?" Sakura growled. Her attitude had greatly changed; the _Mind _healers had told him that she had a split personality and they were merging the pair.

"The Summoning Technique is a ninjutsu that allows the summoner to transport animals or people across long distances instantly." Sasuke recited. "Depending on the contract signed, you could have any animal at your disposal."

Naruto grinned foxily.

"Watch me carefully." Kakashi instructed, slowly making the boar, dog, bird, monkey and ram seals. He bit his thumb to draw blood and slammed his hands on the ground, a small pug appearing in a poof of smoke.

"Yo, Kakashi!" Pakkun greeted, waving his paw.

"Wow!" Naruto gasped, prodding the dog and grinning when he realised they were solid. "You have to teach us this, sensei!"

"Oh, are you the Naruto that Kakashi speaks so fondly of?" Pakkun asked, leaning up into the boys' hand and silently demanding a head rub.

Naruto obliged and nodded, smiling down at the happy dog.

"E-hem!" Kakashi coughed. "Sasuke, I want you to gather a large amount of chakra and repeat after me. _Kuchiyose no Jutsu_."

Sasuke drew blood, rubbing it over his hands and he ran through the seals. "_Kuchiyose no Jutsu_!" He slammed his hands to the ground and disappeared.

"Sakura, do the same."

Sakura faltered but did as he asked, disappearing in a large plume of smoke.

"Naruto?" Kakashi ushered.

Naruto copied the other two and disappeared.

* * *

Sasuke gazed around the forest in slight trepidation. Where was he?

"Hello?" he called out, stepping forward and snapping a branch. He flinched as light filled the area; millions of little eyes swirled to him.

"_Oi, boss!_ A kid is here to see you!" a tiny voice squeaked and the boy grimaced. They were weasels. His summoning animal was a damn weasel.

* * *

Sakura shielded her eyes and unconsciously landed on the water. She walked forward onto the land and was pinned to the spot at the sight of the turtles lazing around her.

"Hello," she began. "I've attempted the summoning technique and it's brought me here."

"Ah," one began, one brilliant green eye opening to see the girl. "Well, the scroll is at the top of the hill. Go sign it and leave us alone, kid. It's not often we get a summoner so go ahead and sign it."

* * *

Naruto let out a small squeal as hundreds of foxes mobbed him.

"Kyuubi-sama!" they shrieked. "You've come to us?"

"Ah- I'm Uzumaki Naruto!" he stammered out.

"_Container of the Kyuubi_." A light, airy voice intoned; Naruto looked up to see a massive white fox smiling up at the moon. "_Thank you for coming here. We haven't had a summoner before, especially one with such close ties to the Kyuubi. Here is our scroll_," She paused in her speech, flicking a long tail over to a large green scroll. Naruto picked up a small kit and stroked it's head, walking closer to the scroll. "_You are already kind to us, so you will not have to fight for it. Kyuubi-sama would be most displeased, I should wonder_."

Naruto signed the scroll and printed his blood into the scroll, allowing a tiny amount of the Kyuubi's chakra to come out.

"**Kid, you've hit the jackpot**!" Kyuubi laughed. "**These aren't normal fox summons; these are the best of the best! I always wanted to come visit them, but I didn't know how I'd be treated**."

"_They love you_." Naruto told the fox, allowing him to see through his eyes.

The tiny kit in his arms was purring loudly. "I like you!" it chirped. "You have nice hands!"

Naruto beamed. "_You must leave now, young one_." The queen fox turned her big purple eyes on him. "_If you ever need me, just summon one of my kits and ask for me. I shall come._"

* * *

Naruto appeared in a plume of smoke, the kit still in his arms. "I got the fox summon." he told Kakashi, picking up the kit for him to see.

"That was to be expected." Kakashi nodded, reading his book.

"Where are Sasuke and Sakura?"

"They haven't come back yet."

Just after the man finished his sentence, Sakura appeared. "I got a turtle summon." she moaned. "They're so nasty!"

"Turtles are very good at taijutsu and medic-jutsu. It's fitting." Kakashi peered over his book at her.

She shook her head and noticed the kit in Naruto's arms. "Aw!" she cooed, leaning over to peer at the animal. "How cute!"

The kit growled and snapped at her nose playfully, leaping out of Naruto's arms and tugging on her dress.

Sasuke appeared, frowning and shaking his head. "God damn weasels!"

Naruto smirked at the boy.

* * *

"Hokage-sama, with all due respect... I believe that we are more than qualified to take on a C-rank mission." Kakashi bowed his head respectfully.

The older man nodded. "This team has grown in leaps and bounds over this past month and you are my pride." The man paused, flicking through his documents. "I have the right one for you. Send in Tazuna!" the man called. "The mission is to escort Tazuna-san to the Land of Waves."

A drunken man stumbled in, holding a large bottle of sake in his hands. "T-hese brats gonna' look after _me_?" he slurred. "They hardly look capable o' taking care of a dog! Especially that little kid with the _nappy_ on his head!"

Naruto felt his temper flip and he unleashed a high dosage of killer intent on the man.

"I assure you, Tazuna-_san_, we are **more **than capable of escorting you to your village." Sakura cracked her knuckles threateningly.

"Right! Team. We shall meet at the North gates in an hour; pack for a weeks stay."

* * *

**And that's chapter one done. xD**

**I apologise for it being so rushed, but I'm slowing it down dramatically now. xD**


	2. Land of Waves

**Difference**

* * *

Naruto rushed to the Uchiha compound, Sasuke quick on his heels. "Do we keep our weights on or do we take them off?" Sasuke asked, opening the door and rushing up the stairs, his shoes flung off at the door.

Naruto followed at more of a sedate pace, removing his shoes and climbing up the stairs two by two. He walked into his room and picked up his black bag, putting in two changes of clothes and four sets of underwear, a flask of water, another flask of vitamin water, food scrolls, energy bars, pills, bombs, a spare set of weapons and two cups of instant ramen. He put it on, feeling the weight and nodding in satisfaction; it was very light..

He walked into Sasuke's room, seeing clothes thrown everywhere and Sasuke frantically searching for something. Naruto checked the boys bag and found that he'd put in his flasks in and nothing else. Naruto smirked and shook his head; _Sasuke is excited for his first mission outside of the village._

The blond boy put in three changes of clothes, energy bars, ramen, food scrolls, pills, bombs, weapons and a small bottle of polish. He placed Mikoto's necklace on top, knowing that he'd need that comfort.

"Where are the sleeping bags?" Sasuke snarled, ripping out two drawers from his wardrobe and throwing the contents into the messy room.

"They're in my room!" Naruto soothed, creating ten shadow clones to clean the room and find anything else they may need.

"Are you keeping your weights on?" Sasuke asked, much calmer now; he'd removed his a-typical Uchiha shirt with the fan on the back and had swapped it for a plain, tight black one. He slipped out of the white shorts and changed into black ones, swapping his blue shoes for black ones.

"Hm." Naruto paused, lifting his leg up and down. "No; I know he'll probably have bandits after him, but I want to show just how strong Konoha is."

He unhooked the bonds keeping the weights together and lay them on Sasuke's bed. He did the same to the ones on his arms, feeling amazingly _light_. "I'll take them with me, though." He packed them into his bag and groaned at the weight. He picked up two fur-lined black cloaks and packed them in his own bag.

Sasuke smiled gratefully at the clones and removed his weights as well, packing them into the bag.

* * *

Sakura wasn't having an issue with packing her bag but she was having an issue with her mother. "You're not going!" the woman howled, ripping the bag out of her hands and throwing it at the wall. Sakura caught it before it could hit and she continued to pack the bag in stony silence.

She nodded and barged past the woman, removing three flasks from her bag and filling them in the small kitchen.

"Ayaka-chan, you knew that this would happen," Haruno Hiromitsu was not a blind man; he saw the building animosity between his wife and his daughter but he couldn't figure out why. "Sakura will be _fine_. She has proved herself to be more than capable-"

"You thought that too!" she roared, slamming her hands on the table. "I _refuse_! You put the foolish idea of her being a kunoichi into her brain and _now _look at her!"

Sakura gazed coldly at the woman. "I am your _daughter_ but you have treated me like a _pariah_." She sneered at the woman and left through the back door, leaping over gardens and fences to get to the North gate.

The client, Tazuna, and Kakashi were already there. She could sense, rather than see, Naruto and Sasuke fast approaching.

* * *

Sasuke sped ahead of Naruto, enjoying the fact that he was so damn fast. Naruto laughed and rushed ahead, landing in front of their client with a loud "Woop!"

Sakura managed to stop the boy from falling flat on his face by catching him around his stomach, grinning at their happiness.

"Let's go then, team!" Kakashi eye-smiled and held up his Icha Icha novel. They left quickly.

The sky was blue and the birds were chirping a soothing tune, nothing could put Naruto in a bad mood- "Hey, brat, are you sure you're a ninja?" The client laughed like he was sharing a joke with someone.

"I'm sure I'm a ninja, Tazuna-san." Naruto replied frostily, glaring up at the man.

"But you're so _tiiiiiny~ _and you look so **weak**!"

Naruto snarled and unleashed some of Kyuubi's tightly held chakra, his eyes bleeding into red and his whiskers thickening. "**I assure you, _sir_, that I more than capable of _slitting your throat in your sleep, you old_****_ bastard_**!" The man froze, his skin paling rapidly. Kakashi smirked behind his mask and held a thumbs up to the angry boy, showing his approaval. "Now, I suggest you shut the **fuck **up and let us carry on with the mission, okay?" Naruto closed his eyes and put on his foxiest grin, showing his sharp teeth and long canines.

The man nodded and took a deep swig of his sake, keeping his mouth shut.

As they were walking along, Sasuke noticed a puddle. _Weird... It hasn't been raining this past week and if someone had spilt it, it would have gone by now, surely? _

Kakashi noticed too and his eyes shot to the trees. _He's lied to us. That's a Chuunin-level genjutsu that hasn't been implemented correctly, but even the stupidest of people can be dangerous._

He began making the signs for, "Ambush" "Chuunin" "Prepare" to his Genin. When they got a short way away from the puddle, chains shot out from the puddle and wrapped around the silver-haired man. He'd already made a _Kawarami _and he was safely nestled in the trees.

He made it seem like his body had been torn to shreds as the two men shot out of the trees, going behind Naruto with gauntlets and kunai. The boy grinned and quickly made the hand symbol ram for this- "_Fūton: Atsugai._" he whispered, controlling the wind to spiral around his body, shattering the gauntlets and the kunai. The Chuunin gaped stupidly, giving Naruto enough time to increase the density of the wind massively and to release his technique. A large crater formed, dragging in the two men but also trying to force them away, shattering every bone in their lower body and slicing their skin open. Naruto quickly peaked his chakra, giving Sasuke the signal. He then wrapped the wind around him to shield him from Sasuke's attack.

"_Ka__ton: Endan__!_" A small bullet of fire hit the whirring mass of wind and set it alight, torching the men. Naruto released the technique and stared as the men sobbed and cried.

Sakura quickly used "_Suiton: Hahonryū_." To cool down their flesh but still causing them pain.

"Who hired you?" Kakashi asked, leaping out of the tree. The men moaned but didn't reply so, taking the initiative, Sasuke slammed his hands down on the men's gaping wounds and heated his hands to cause more pain to them.

One of them howled and screamed out, "Gatō!"

Kakashi paused and nodded. Gatō was the head of a massive shipping industry and he was also renowned for his deals in child slavery and child prostitution. He also ran a drug-smuggling industry, using ninja's to deliver the 'goods'. He used those ninja's to overtake countries and companies alike, making himself richer while worsening the poor. He took out a small scroll and unsealed a katana, swinging it in the air and beheading the pair. He then sealed their heads in a preservation scroll and handed it to Sakura. "They'll bring you around 7500 ryo each because of their Bounties."

Sakura accepted it in awe, telling herself that she was going to share it with her team any way possible. "Who are they, Kakashi-sensei?"

"They _were _the Demon Brothers, two Chuunin-level missing-nin from... Kirigakure? Kirigakure. They're rated highly in Bounty, however, because they know-knew any of Kirigakure's secret techniques."

Kakashi smiled and took note of the damaged area. _Oh well! _"Now, Tazuna-san..." Kakashi turned to the man. "Why do you have _Chuunin _after you?"

The man began to sweat and he collapsed to his knees. "Ah- _Nami no Kuni _is a poor village and Gatō is bleeding us dry, so I thought that I would make a bridge for us to be more accessible and to bring more money to us but- he doesn't like that idea so I thought if we got help from ninja's, we'd be fine, but he's got some too-"

"So what you're saying is, you've got potentially dangerous shinobi after you?" Sakura summarised. "But you thought you'd get the help of _Genin_."

"We're poor!" he yelled, stammering out apologies. "Please, help us?"

Sakura looked at the two boys and nodded her consent to carry on with the mission.

Sasuke looked at Naruto who nodded back at him. "We'll help," Sasuke sighed. "But only if you offer us your house to stay in."

The civilian man nodded and starting saying his thanks. "Let's go." Naruto interrupted, walking away. Sasuke shared the man a hateful glance and followed him, Sakura waiting for the man to get up before she began to walk.

"Kakashi-sensei, are you okay with carrying on?" she asked the man in whispered tones.

"Aa," he shrugged. "Those who abandon others when they need help..."

She smiled and agreed with his logic. The man sounded desperate and the fact that he had gone so far out, to _Konohagakure _for help? She didn't mind a bit of danger!

"Sakura, you do know that this makes this mission above B-rank?" Kakashi smiled down at her.

"Does that mean we get B-rank pay?" She positively beamed. She wanted to move out of her house but apartments were costly, the minimum being 250 ryo a month. He was hoping she'd ask Sasuke and Naruto for help, but he knew that she was too prideful. He was, instead, going to give her money through small things, like giving her the heads and secretly raiding the men's bodies and giving her the expensive weaponry sealed into a scroll. The chains themselves could bring in 500 ryo per four metres, and there was more than twenty metres in either chain.

"Yes. Why do you want to leave your home?" he asked quietly, his ears picking up on every sound around them. He was understandably tense.

"My mother has become unbearable this past month," she confessed meekly. "I love her but... I can't stay."

The man nodded. He wasn't actively encouraging her to leave because she had a caring family, but if Sakura was truly serious they should be standing beside her.

It took another hour of walking to reach the small ocean that lead to Nami no Kuni. Mist had fallen and the sky was gloomy.

Tazuna had arranged a small boat down the river and man was pale, nervous. He kept looking around as if something was waiting in the shadows.

The team sat in the boat and watched Tazuna interact with the man; he was gentle, promising him no harm. "Hey, old man. Are things really that bad?" Naruto asked quietly; the mist was unnerving.

The man pushed along. "We should be able to see the bridge soon. If we move along the side of the bridge, we'll be at Nami no Kuni. Then, you're on your own, my friends."

The four of them peered into the distance, making out the outline of a massive bridge. It was intended to connect the small island to the mainland to bring in trade and to, hopefully, stop Gatō from taking full control of the country. Kids were going missing every day and because of Gatō's scare scheme, most were homeless and nobody would miss them.

"That's _great_." Sakura breathed.

"Oi, shut it!" Tazuna's friend hissed. "We're using this tiny boat and hiding in the mist. Why do you think I'm rowing and not using the engine? If we get caught, we're in trouble."

Sasuke slapped a hand over Naruto's mouth.

"Is this true, Tazuna-san?" Kakashi murmured, his voice slightly muffled because of the mask. Tazuna said nothing and put his head down. Kakashi sighed. "Before we get to the pier, there's something I need to ask you."

Tazuna remained tight lipped. "The identity of the ones who you know are after you, and the reason that they are after you. If you do not answer, we will call this mission off the moment we get ashore."

The man hm'ed. "I know that there is the _Demon of the Mist_. A year ago, Gatō set his sights on Nami no Kuni. He used violence and wealth to over take us and he quickly took over the island's sea traffic and transportation. For Nami no Kuni, that meant he controlled _everything. _Wealth, politics and the people of the island. But. The man is afraid of the bridge and he is trying to kill me to stop the construction."

"So, you as the one constructing it, are an obstacle to him." Sakura theorised. She bit her thumb in thought.

"The ninja's were sent after us by Gatō." Sasuke finished for her.

Naruto was watching Kakashi carefully. The man had paled at the name of the person working with Gatō, which couldn't be good. "Oniisan, is this guy dangerous?"

Kakashi's attention snapped to Naruto and it was clear the man was hyper alert. "Very, Naruto-kun. He has a Run on Sight stamp in the Bingo Book."

"Can we take him?" Naruto asked bluntly. If his brother was afraid, the man was dangerous and Naruto would tell them to cancel the mission.

The man sniggered and some worry left the man's shoulders. "Aa, Naruto, we can take him."

Naruto nodded. "Old man, we'll continue to help. We'll protect you_ ttebayo_."

They continued to travel for a few minutes. "Tazuna-san, we haven't been spotted yet."

"Thanks, friend."

The entrance to the island was hidden by massive walls with small gaps in to allow boat access. They travelled through the first gap, down the middle of the arch. As they reached the village, the mist lifted and showed the beautiful area behind the walls. Rivers ran through and through, making the transport option solely travel by water. The houses were kept clean but they were run down. It was clear that the further they travelled into the village, the worse the houses became.

They reached the pier and stepped off, the ninja's stretching out their limbs. "This is as far as I go. Good luck."

The man rowed away, revving his engine. Kakashi blinked and sighed. "Team, formation thirteen around Tazuna."

"Hai!" they chorused; Naruto moved to the behind, Sakura to the forward left and Sasuke to the forward right. Kakashi was in the middle but slightly ahead.

Sakura's hand twitched and she launched a kunai into a tree, scaring a white rabbit half to death. "Sensei, why is the rabbit white? If it's a wild rabbit, it should only be white in the winter, right?"

Kakashi was having very similar thoughts. He quickly made the Konoha hand symbols for "Substitution" and "Diversion". He wasn't sure which one it was, but the rabbit was raised away from the sun.

Naruto's ears picked up the sound of something in the trees and he saw their enemy before he disappeared. "He's here!" Naruto hissed.

"**Duck**!" Kyuubi roared through Naruto's mouth, seizing slight control in Naruto's slip of concentration. The fox forced the boy down.

Sasuke tackled the client to the ground while Kakashi pulled Sakura down with him; something sharp passed over head and silver strands of hair fell to the ground.

A massive sword embedded itself in the tree and a big, big man stood on it, his back to the five of them. "I'm surprised, _Sharingan Kakashi!_" He cackled. "A _kid _had to tell you to duck!"

"Momochi Zabuza," Kakashi greeted, standing and brushing himself off. He was slightly worried that the Kyuubi had shouted from Naruto's body, but he didn't have time to worry. He heard his kids get up and sighed. "Exiled ninja from Kirigakure."

"Kakashi-sensei, is this the guy you're worried about?" Naruto spoke up, exuding confidence. "Obviously he feels inferior, what with such a _large _sword. Overcompensating, huh?"

The missing-nin snarled.

"So easily affected by insults, too, ah?" Sakura carried on, smirking viciously; she knew what Naruto was trying to do. "Man up!"

The man turned, his eyes showing clear rage with a slight hint of amusement. "You got cocky brats, Hatake!" he called.

"They have every right to be cocky!" Tazuna piped up. "They took out those Chuunin, no problem!"

The civilian collapsed to the floor under Zabuza's killer intent. "Take the swastika position." Kakashi murmured to Naruto, knowing that the boy could hear.

He lifted his hitai-ate and kept his Sharingan eye closed. "Naruto, what's the Sharingan?" Sakura asked, moving into the swastika position.

"It's an Uchiha _dojutsu_ but Kakashi-sensei has it too. You can copy your opponents movements and some people say it can see into the future."

"Ones who use dojutsu are said to have powers that can see through all genjutsu, taijutsu and ninjutsu and cancel their effects. Sharingan is one of them but it has more abilities than that."

"I'm honoured that you're getting ready to use it already, Hatake!" Zabuza called. Mist began to fall on the area, thicker than normal mist.

Naruto could only just see Sakura and Sasuke, let alone Kakashi. "Oniisan, be careful." he whispered.

"Oniisan, ah?" Zabuza smirked. The scent of fear filled his senses as the Genin now realised they couldn't see him and his voice came from all over.

Naruto tensed and unsealed his katana silently. He was right to do so as the massive sword Zabuza had appeared at his neck; it would have killed him immediately had he not powered chakra into his arms and slammed his katana into it, holding it secure. "Kid, you're heavy. You got weights on?" Zabuz asked curiously. "I like you, kid. You know how to work a sword, right?"

Naruto nodded and gave the man a tiny smile. "You're called the Demon of the Mist, right?"

"Ah," the man nodded. It was clear the kid's teammates didn't expect this and neither did Kakashi, the man hovering in his position.

"Are you a jinchūriki?" Naruto said bluntly, pushing hard against the massive pressure.

"No brat, why?" The man took notice of the kids whisker marks and slid under his sword, lifting the boy's shirt. He gazed in awe at the seal that marked the boy as a jinchūriki and that's when Kakashi attacked.

"You lie and say you're a demon, then?" Naruto scoffed, a hint of bitterness in his tone. Was he alone as a jinchūriki? Were there more in the world?

"Nah, kid. Jinchūriki, _all _of them, have my respect." Zabuza said, gazing through the mist at the boy. He was so much like Haku; he was hated for what he was and nobody wanted to utilise his potential... Oh, the possibilities! "In order to be a ninja in Kirigakure, you have to eliminate your weaker classmates. The nine that survive are put onto teams."

Naruto nodded; he could see the logic behind it, but it was cruel. "I killed _everyone_." He smirked at the boy's face. He wasn't scared but there was a hint of awe there. He nodded. The kid was a little darker than Haku, but so similar.

Sakura paled as killer intent filled the air. Sasuke was frozen to the spot. Naruto wasn't affected; when he met Kyuubi as a child on the cusp of death, the fox had released an armies worth of KI and Naruto now had a tolerance to it.

"I'm sorry, kid, but I have to kill the old man. If you try to stop me, I'll kill you."

"Then you'll have to kill me," Naruto sounded resigned. "But if you touch my family, I'll kill **you**." Naruto began to leak his own KI, with a small amount of Kurama's, to combat Zabuza's own. Zabuza knew in that instant the kid could kill him-

-_but only because he was a jinchūriki_, he reminded himself quickly.

"Your family, kid?" Zabuza refrained from attacking just yet. The kid was interesting and he had enough KI in him to diffuse his own.

"Sakura, Sasuke, Kakashi... My family."

"Kakashi!" Zabuza called. "Looks like I'll have to defeat you in the mist!"

The missing-nin made the mist thicker, into a heavy fog.

"_Kirigakure no Jutsu_," the man whispered, disappearing into the mist. _  
_

"Don't let your guard down!" Kakashi called, beginning to circle the group, covered by the mist.

The copy-cat ninja sighed and put his hands together in a basic seal. He poured chakra out from his system. The chakra was bloodthirsty, murderous, weaker than Naruto's own, surprisingly.

Sasuke began to shake. _He's going to kill me. He'll see me breathe, or I'll blink, and he'll kill me. I'll lose my mind if I stay any longer. My life is in someone elses hands- the KI is clashing, Kakashi's, Naruto's and Zabuza's, they're going to kill me and there is nothing I can do-_

Naruto stopped his killer intent. "Sasuke, I'll protect you with my life, calm down."

"I won't let anyone on my team die." Kakashi called to them.

"I wouldn't be too sure about that." Zabuza appeared in the middle of the formation, blade poised to kill. Sakura yelped and turned, slamming her leg up and booting the man beneath the chin. She hadn't removed her weights.

Zabuza flew nine feet into the air, his sword tucked firmly into his grasp. "That'd be better if you put a bit of chakra into it, girl!" he goaded, laughing. He began to melt down into water.

"_Mizu Bunshin?_" she gaped. "Bastard!" she howled into the mist.

The 'bastard' snorted. "Your kids are kinda' good, Kakashi!"

The man swung his sword in Sasuke's general direction and Kakashi shoved a kunai into his stomach. Water began to drip.

The massive sword swung through the air and split Kakashi in half; it was a water clone. _Did he- _A blade was poised at Zabuza's throat. "Give up, Zabuza."

"You can't defeat me with imitations." Zabuza chortled, pressing himself onto the blade and making himself explode into water. "I'm not that easy to defeat!" He used his blade to make Kakashi duck before slamming it into the ground, switching hands on the handle and slamming his foot into Kakashi's shocked face. The man was flung into the water. Zabuza slammed his hand onto the blade and he turned into water, the sword included.

Kakashi resurfaced. _What's up with the water? It's heavy... _

"Idiot. _Suirō no Jutsu_." His hands shot through the signs and a blue wall of water surrounded Kakashi,

"You can't escape here." Zabuza chortled. "But, Kakashi, I'm going to finish you off later, when the kid is out and his teammates are dead. _Mizu Bunshin no Jutsu_,"

Sakura smirked. Earth trumped water. Even though there were more than forty bunshin, she could so this. "_Doton: Dochūbaku_." she whispered, slamming her chakra-encased hands into the ground. The ground was already sodden from the men's fight, making it easier for her to do this.

The ground began to shift as it soaked in the water. It began to slide, slow at first, before she pumped more chakra into the technique. Zabuza gazed in awe as the little Genin made a massive landslide, enough to destroy his clones in one and to just about touch his feet. He looked at the man in the prison. "You got some good kids-"

* * *

Sakura had gone through the ram, dog, rat and bird seals, shoving her hands into the ground. She made a large tunnel, ending just below Zabuza. This made sure that the ground was weak enough for her to leap through, but not enough for him to notice.

When he started talking to Kakashi, she seized the chance and leapt down the hole, telling Sasuke and Naruto to protect Tazuna. She ran beneath the ground and leapt up, slamming her fist into Zabuza's surprised face.

His control shattered over the prison and Kakashi was released.

Sasuke and Naruto leapt after Zabuza, the pair of them using the Uchiha taijutsu style to combat him; it used wires, kunai, fists, legs, elbows and if you got it correctly, duo teams were _very _effective.

They were slamming him about, throwing him around like a ragdoll between them; Sakura's hit had stunned him enough for him to forget where he was for a moment. _That hit-! It was like Tsunade-_

By the time he'd gathered his wits about him, he was encased in steel wire and the Uchiha brat was smirking cockily at him, one hand full of wire. Naruto had the other pieces of wire. "I'm sorry, Zabuza-san!" Naruto chirped. "You've earned my respect, but... _Fūjin to Raijin no Jutsu_."_  
_

The boy breathed in a massive gust of wind and blew it out, creating a massive tornado that travelled along the wires. Sasuke lit his hand full of lightning and shot it down the wire, electrocuting the water while he was at it. The lightning and wind collided, slamming into their captive. The man flinched as he felt cool hands pick him up before it hit, the wires cut by well-aimed _senbon_.

Two senbon lodged firmly in his neck, the Hunter-nin nodded his thanks at the four shinobi. "We have been searching for Momochi Zabuza for a while," the Hunter began, his voice muffled but airy. "Thank you for taking care of him. Kirigakure is in your favour." The Hunter jumped down and picking Zabuza up, throwing one of the man's arms over his shoulder and disappearing in a swirl of mist.

Sasuke groaned and dropped to the floor. "Sasuke!" Naruto exclaimed, picking the boy up. "What's up?"

"He got a hit on my stomach- he wasn't aiming for you, he was aiming for me-"

Naruto lifted the shirt up, wincing at the sight of the angry, inflamed skin that was already beginning to bruise. "Sakura-chan!"

* * *

Tazuna had taken them to his house and had laid out a cushy futon for Sasuke. Naruto stripped the boy down to his boxers, rubbing one of Sakura's healing salves into his stomach.

His brother was completely out of it and Sakura had been strangely silent to him. Kakashi was tired from trying to fight the water prison and using his Sharingan, but he'd thanked his team for saving him before falling asleep.

Naruto desperately wanted to know if there were more like him. He began to meditate, shifting into his mindscape.

"Kurama-san?" Naruto bowed respectfully to the fox demon.

"**Yes, brat**?" the demon replied, catching a butterfly before releasing it.

"Are there more jinchūriki? I know there's more _demons _but..."

"**Kit, there's nine demons. We were released into this realm in roughly the same time period, the moment your world began to change. We were either called here, forced here, or found our way here. As there are nine demons, we'll start from the beginning. The first demon, and subsequently the weakest in terms of brain power and chakra, is the _Shukaku no Ichibi_ and I believe his host in the same age as you. I think... He's in the Sand...**" Kyuubi's voice went misty, like he was trying hard to concentrate on something afar.

The fox shook his massive head. "**The second demon is the _Matatabi no Nibi. _She's sealed into a girl, older than you, and she's somewhere in the Cloud... Yes, the Cloud. Her seal is not as strong as yours and she's exiled for it. She's lonely.**" The demon shook his head again. "**The third is the _Isobuu no Sanbi_. He is sealed in Yagura, the Yondaime Mizukage. He is the one Zabuza had tried to over throw but failed miserably doing so... He's older than the girl with Nibi. The fourth is _Son Gokuu no Yonbi. _His container is much older than you. The fifth is _Kokuou no Gobi _but he has been captured-**" Kyuubi's brow furrowed. The kit had never asked about other demons before and he was finding that he had links to them that transmitted information. It was odd.

"Who captured him?"

Kyuubi focussed intently on the small white bond. "**Akatsuki?**" The fox shook his head. _I'll see how far this goes later. _"**The sixth is _Saiken no Rokubi_. She's worried- someone is coming after her container and they're getting closer every day. She needs help-**" Kyuubi paused and tugged on her blue link forcing his chakra onto her. She accepted in happily, sucking more and more of the chakra before closing the link partially. "**The seventh is the _Choumei no Shichibi_. He's greatly concerned about his container; she's angry and hateful. Kit, would you do something for me?**"

Naruto nodded. "Anything."

"**I want you to summon seven foxes and write seven letters to each of these containers. I will get their names from the links, but I want you to ask if there was a neutral place and a neutral time where you could _all _meet up and discuss the Akatsuki. These people seem** **dangerous**," _and I don't want you to get hurt. _"**And they'll stop at nothing to get what they want. Maybe if you show a united front...**"

"Ojiisan may not agree, but I can do it, Kurama-sama!" Naruto chirped. He wanted to meet these people, anyway. _They're just like me!_

"**The eighth is _Gyuuki no Hachibi. _He has a good bond between him and his host, Killer Bee. He's in the cloud, too.**"

"What should I write in the letter?"

"**Just say that you are the host of the_ Kyuubi no Youko _and you wish to meet those like you. Say that you have information regarding the _Kokuou no Gobi _and say that you know that _Saikon no Rokubi _is in trouble. Mention that I'd fed her some of my chakra. I know you don't want to, but say how you are treated in Konoha and express that you want to find friends in them, but in a round-a-bout way so they don't presume that you're weak.**"

Naruto nodded and faded out of his mind, rubbing more salve onto Sasuke's bruising. He quickly undressed down into plain black shorts and a white shirt, removing his bandanna. He walked to the kitchen, smiling gratefully at Tazuna's daughter, Tsunami. "Thank you for sharing your home with us, ma'am."

"You're welcome," She smiled happily, bustling around the kitchen like there was nothing wrong. "You're free to stay as long as you like."

"Thank you! But... I don't suppose you have any brushes and some ink?" He laughed, scratching the back of his head nervously.

"Of course!" She beamed. "They're in the second drawer to your right, to the back-left of the box."

Naruto nodded and found the thinnest brush possible and a large pot of ink. "Thank you very much, Tsunami-san!"

"You're welcome!"

Naruto found her motherliness to be annoying but endearing at the same time. He entered the room that Sasuke was in, writing out the seven letters, changing the wording according to who he was writing to. He kept it painfully formal all the same.

He quickly read the letters to Kyuubi who murmured his approval, tugging on the links to the demons. "_**My kid is sending letters out. Tell your kids to read them and be nice, or they'll have me to answer**_**_ to_.**" He shut off the link the moment they tried to reply, some sounding happy and some sounding angry; the ones who seemed angry were the weakest of them, Shukaku and Nibi. They were probably trying to make them reliant on them which would be their downfall.

Naruto beamed and bit his thumb, spreading a tiny amount onto his hands and making the handseals necessary for the technique. "_Kuchiyose no Jutsu._" he whispered, pressing his hand to the ground. A large red fox appeared.

"Naruto-sama!" the fox cooed, butting its head against Naruto's 'magic fingers'. Naruto laughed and began to pet the fox, soon rubbing it's chest and belly.

"Hello, what's your name?" Naruto asked the fox sweetly.

"My name is Yuu!" the fox purred out.

"Yuu-chan, please could you bring me seven of the strongest, quickest foxes there is? I'm not insulting the others, I just need them to deliver scrolls for me and it may be dangerous, okay?"

Yuu nodded and disappeared, appearing again with six others around her. There was the tiny fox kit that had followed Naruto back and the little thing leapt into his arms, purring and mewling for the boys soft fingers.

Naruto obliged, laughing. "Will you send a letter for me?"

The foxes nodded in unison, even the little one in his arms. "I don't know their exact locations, so think of it as a ninja mission! You need to find the client and deliver a letter in the most efficient way possible, okay?" The foxes were enthralled, all of them liking the idea of going on a mission. "I know this doesn't seem like much, but these people are _just _like me. They have something in them that other's loathe and I want to help them, but I need your help. Don't leave until they give a reply and tell them they need to give a reply or _you won't _leave."

"Okay, Naruto-sama!" they chorused, each taking their designated letters.

Naruto had given the smallest one, Kira, the scroll for the Sand container. The fox nodded and poofed away. "Why'd he leave?" Naruto asked the others curiously.

"We have barriers in our home that let us into the Five Hidden Villages." The biggest fox shrugged, four tails waving behind it. Naruto gave him the scroll for the Cloud village.

"This is for the two tailed demon container, okay?" The fox nodded and disappeared.

Naruto handed the scrolls out until Yuu was last. "Where am I going, Naruto-sama?" the fox asked, rubbing her head into his palm.

"You have the hardest job of all, okay?" he whispered to her. "You need to infiltrate the _Mizukage's _office and deliver this _personally_, okay?" The fox's eyes widened, revealing them to be a bright emerald. They complimented her dark brown fur.

"I will do ask you ask, Naruto-sama! We will return to you in, at most, a weeks time! We shall pester them until they write a reply!" the fox chirped, disappearing. Naruto shook his head in amusement.

He got into bed with Sasuke, feeling drained all of a sudden.

* * *

**two days after they reached Tazuna's house**

* * *

Gaara growled angrily, flinging the man away with a grunt.

"Gaara-san!" a little fox called, leaping over the body. "I have a message for you!"

Gaaara gazed at the little thing with unblinking seafoam eyes. Temari, behind him, came up and stared at the little kit.

"Who are you?" Gaara asked quietly; there was something different about this fox and it had Mother screaming.

"I'm Kira!" the fox chirped. "I have a message for you, from Naruto-sama! He says he's just like you and he wrote you a letter!" The fox climbed up the boy's leg, not fearing for his safety. Naruto would hurt anyone who tried to hurt his summons, he was sure of it.

Gaara leant down and picked the thing up around the waist, gazing into the beady red eyes. "Na-ru-to-sama?"

"Yes!" The fox nodded, butting his head against the boy's chin. Gaara didn't want to hurt the little thing, which was a surprise in itself. He didn't really like animals.

"Who is Naruto-sama?" Kankuro interrupted the moment, curious.

"Uzumaki Naruto!" the fox chirped, louder than before. "He's Kyuubi-sama too, just beneath the surface but he's both Naruto-sama and Kyuubi-sama!"

Baki had been listening into the conversation and paled, flinging a kunai at the small pest.

Gaara's sand shot up and blocked the kunai. From the hard glint in the boy's eye, Baki knew he'd stepped too far.

"You said you have a letter...?" Gaara trailed off, one hand rising to the stroke the small ball of fur. He hoped the fur would be as soft as it looked and it _was__. _

"Yes!" the fox agreed, purring. He popped away and then returned, a scroll locked between his jaws. "Here-" he garbled around the scroll.

Gaara removed it and sat down, uncaring that he'd just nearly sat on a decapitated head. He read the letter and Mother got angrier and angrier in his head.

"Kyuubi-sama!" the fox cooed and Mother shut up with a snap. "Aw, he's gone..."

Gaara blinked down at the fox. "Tell Uzumaki Naruto that I will meet him any time, any place he so wishes. He sounds interesting."

Temari was quite shocked; Gaara had never spoken so much and most animals ended up dead before they could even get close to him.

"Okay, boss!" The fox nodded and poofed away, leaving Gaara with an almost... empty feeling.

* * *

**three days after they reached Tazuna's house**

* * *

Nii avoided the numerous objects being thrown at her and stepped into her secluded cottage, removing her hair from the tight bands and letting it flow loosely.

"You have pretty hair, miss." Nii gazed down at the big fox with an expression of surprise. The Nibi was screaming inside, knowing what was happening. Nii shut the thing up, ignoring the chakra that was beginning to leak out of her. "I have a message for you from Uzumaki Naruto, the jinchūriki for the Kyuubi." The fox turned and unravelled one of its tails, showing the blue scroll that was hidden.

"Uzumaki Naruto, aa?" She smiled coldly, reading the scroll. The kid seemed to have a very similar life to her own. Her curiosity was piqued. The Nibi stopped howling, silenced by a stronger demon to himself.

She wrote a short reply that had no formality and a hint of shrewdness. She wordlessly handed the fox the scroll, keeping the letter to herself. The boy seemed sweet, if not a bit naive. His summons gave away his identity near immediately, but if she were to meet him and the other jinchūriki, she didn't mind.

* * *

**one day after they reached Tazuna's house**

* * *

Yagura grinned viciously at his men. "Zabuza was bested by three genin yesterday." he told his men, blasé. "Dismissed."

He returned to his paper work, stamping the files and sliding them into organised folders. He did this for fifteen minutes, becoming bored as time went on.

Yuu grinned and seized her chance, leaping onto the table and dropping the scroll onto his hand. "Hello, Mizukage Yagura!" she chirped, her two tails swishing behind her in her happiness. "My summoner, Uzumaki Naruto, has a letter for you."

He paused and read the scroll, alerting his Corps to the animals presence and preparing to signal for them to attack.

"**Don't.**" the Sanbi rumbled in his head. "**This is what I told you about last night. Attack his animal and the Kyuubi will destroy me.**"

Yagura frowned and nodded, making a quick reply. "_Do I do this? Should I offer my office as a neutral zone?_"

"**You should do this; it'd be better to make alliances now. Offer your office, but ask if it would be possible to do it in Konoha. Say you wanted to visit anyway, to see the wares that Konoha has to offer and potentially offer an alliance to the country. Write to the Hokage and say you have intel.**"

* * *

**one day ****after they reached Tazuna's house**

* * *

Roushi sighed, sipping his morning tea. Everything was so dull nowadays. He wanted something _fun _to happen. Iwagakure never got many missions since the damn Yondaime Hokage, but he couldn't bring himself to fetch up the old animosity. They wanted a war and they got one; however, it was an army of thousands against _one_. The man didn't risk the lives of many for the sake of greed; he wished his leader was the same.

A medium-sized fox appeared in front of him, five tails curled up behind it. It was bright red, with dark brown eyes. "Oi," the fox snarled, biting the man's nose. "I got a letter for ya', ya' bastard. Take it the fuck off me and write a fucking reply."

He was _not _expecting that! He took the letter dumbly, reading it quickly. He smirked and wrote a small reply on the bottom of the scroll.

_Tell me the date, time and I'll come, Kyuubi no Naruto._

He kept it short and sweet and handed the scroll back to the fox. "Thanks, ya' bastard." The fox pawed him on his nose, fixing the bite wound before leaving in a puff of smoke.

* * *

**four days ********after they reached Tazuna's house**

* * *

Utakata frowned, looking out of the window. Change was coming. The Rokubi was constantly worrying about him now, taking over his body to create an impenetrable fortress beneath his house. He didn't think it was necessary. If he was going to die, he was going to die. There was nothing that could be done.

A small grey fox appeared in front of him, snarling. "Do you have any idea how hard it was to find you?" the small thing howled at him.

"Find me? Whatever for?" He hoped he had a placating tone but his eye twitched. Social interactions like this made him nervous.

The fox coughed up a sticky scroll. "My boss, Naruto-Kyuubi-sama, sent me. Read the letter."

Utakata read the letter with a small frown. The people coming after him were called Akatsuki. Dawn. Dawn of what? Death? Peace? He didn't know.

The man penned a reply, but he found it to sound cold and cruel. He wasn't cold and cruel, was he? No. But he had no social skills due to his upbringing, so this was the best he could do. He mentioned the abuse graphically, the torture at the hands of his village until the Rokubi snapped and slaughtered well over two hundred men before he was in control again. He'd been stuck in this guarded house ever since. "It'd be nice to see the world again," he hummed absent-mindedly, writing down his thoughts.

He could already tell that the change was Naruto. He didn't know what change he was bringing, but it was ahead and Utakata would be right by his side.

The Mizukage was scheduled to meet him soon, maybe he had received the same letter? Utakata liked to think that he'd received a personalised letter, but he doubted it.

People didn't really care about Utakata.

Not when they had the Mizukage.

Utakata wasn't important.

Not really.

Maybe...

Maybe Uzumaki Naruto might?

The man shook his head and blew bubbles on his pipe.

People just didn't care.

* * *

**four hours ********after they reached Tazuna's house**

* * *

Fu ignored the villagers and the people who stared at her, plotting their demise meticulously in her head. She pulled out a cigarette and lit it, enjoying the rush it gave her. She only had a cigarette when she was stressed and she was stressed right now. The Shichibi was getting concerned about her as the day went on; where had his little lady gone? The little girl who used to run around, a massive grin on her cherub face?

_She died the moment the village pinned down a little girl and threw bottles at her face and body- _She stiffened her upper lip and left for the forest, feeling the tears sting. Shichibi-san had tried to fix the scarring, but he was limited to her face. Her body was mangled, _ruined_. She had decided to wear a stomach-revealing top, so that the scars would be there whenever she thought someone cared. Nobody cared. Not about her.

The tears fell, one by one and she buried her hand into the tree, cracking the wood with brute strength. "I want someone to care!" she sobbed. "Why does no one _care?_"

"**I care**." the Shichibi soothed, hoping that Naruto's message would arrive soon. His brat wasn't strong enough for this hate; she was a beautiful girl with a scarred body, broken mind.

"I care!" a smooth voice broke in, a furry little ball leaping into the girls arms.

"Wha-?" she tried to hide her cries.

"I'm Momoko!" the little ball told the girl. "I'm really small and everyone tries to protect me, but Naruto-sama doesn't! He's just like you! He doesn't care about my size, he's cares about my character! I'm sure he'd care about you, too, and Sasuke and Sakura and Kakashi-sama-"

"Who're you?" the girl sniffed, cuddling the fox to her chest.

"And Kira and Yuu and Tomoa and Tooru!" the fox finished. "I'm Momoko, silly! I just said!"

The girl blinked through her tears to look at the red fox. She wasn't small, really, not compared to beetles. Beetles were nice to her. "I'm Fu," she told the fox, giggling shyly. "Why are you here?"

"Naruto-sama sent me!" the fox looked around like she was sharing a big secret. "Naruto-sama likes pretty girls like you!" she confessed, pawing the girls small nose.

The girl blushed, he eyes widening. "You have such pretty eyes, too! They're so pink but red, so _nice_!" the fox stressed. "So don't be sad, Fu-chan! You're beautiful and you exude calmness and serenity and oh!" The fox poofed away and returned with a red scroll clasped firmly in her jaws.

"This is from Naruto-sama!" the fox giggled. Fu took the scroll out of the foxes mouth. She read the scroll and smiled; _there were more like her? People who would care?_

"Please can you tell Naruto-sama that I accept his invititation and that I will be free whenever, no matter what!"

"Okay, Fu-chan! Do you mind if I came to you sometimes, too? With Kira and Yuu and Tomoa and Tooru and Misuki and Momo and Miki and Ryou and Saicho and-"

"I would be **honoured** if you came to visit me, Momoko-chan." the girl blinked back happy tears this time, cuddling the fox to her chest again. "Whenever you want."

Was it bad that she might grow to love this little fox?

**No**.

It wasn't.

* * *

**one day ********after they reached Tazuna's house**

* * *

Killer Bee was surprised that Uzumaki Naruto had contacted him- surprised, because they were from different villages and it _could _be seen as treason. But he was amused. And happy. Elated.

He'd done what none of the demon's had thought to do to protect them.

He'd sought their company.

He wrote the boy a cute little rap and gave the fox a still-live mouse, watching the animal savage it before disappearing.

_Uzumaki Naruto... I will protect you with my life! _Bee promised with a startling amount of maturity. _You are the Change, yo'!_

* * *

Naruto heard Momoko's story with a growing sadness. "Momoko-chan, if you ever want to visit her, could you tell me first? I'll write to her, I want to be her friend."

The fox blinked her pretty ruby eyes and nodded. "She's very sad, Naruto-sama." she spoke strongly, dropping her act. "I don't know how she'll take to having a friend, but I believe you will help her recover. She has been hurt, badly. She is scarred from the collarbones down, all the way to the tips of her fingers and toes."

Naruto shuddered. "_Kyuubi?_" he called mentally. The fox grumbled a response.

"_Do you think you could help her?_"

The fox blinked. "**I believe I could, brat. What's in it for me?**"

"_Um... Free reign in my body for a day._"

"**Two days**."

"_Free reign in my body for a day and I'll ask Hitomi-sama about getting you a fox summon body_."

"**Done**."

Naruto blinked down at the little fox. "I've asked Kyuubi for help in healing her scars."

The fox smiled brilliantly. "Thank you, Naruto-sama." She bowed lowly and vanished.

* * *

Fu bit her lip in pain. It felt like something was **burning **her!

"_Kid..._" a voice interrupted her pain and she entered her mindscape, finding a large fox with nine tails swishing behind it. "_Stop struggling. I'm trying to heal you_."

"Who are you?" she groaned.

"_I'm the Kyuubi no Yoko. Keep still; the scarring is extensive and I'm draining my brat's chakra trying to fix this._"

"Kyuubi?" she whimpered. "Did Naruto-kun send you?"

_"Naruto asked if I could help you like I help him. This is so much harder because I'm also draining the Shichibi to keep the link open. I need you to have plenty of vegetables and meats after this, because I think I'm fixing years worth of malnutrition at the same ti~ime._" The fox yawned, the apparition faltering.

"_This is the best I can do under the circumstances, kid. I'm sorry you have to suffer through this, too_." The Kyuubi left and Fu whimpered louder.

"**Kid, power through the pain, okay?**" Shichibi was here with her now, unable to touch her but he was trying to anyway.

She nodded and bit through her lip. "Kay-"

The pain stopped suddenly and she felt better than she'd felt in _years_. She felt warm and happy. She left her mindscape and looked down at her stomach. The scars were all but gone; tiny white lines remained, but the angry red welts had _gone_.

Was this how it felt to be cared for? Tears sprung to her eyes unbidden.

* * *

Naruto felt the pain that Fu was going through and Kakashi had kept him bed-ridden for two days. He didn't ask when Naruto received several scrolls or got messages off of the foxes but he shot him a look that said "I'm telling the Hokage about this and you'll have a lot of explaining to do."

"Zabuza isn't really dead, is he?" Naruto asked quietly, counting the tiles in the roof. "Hunter-nin kill on sight."

Kakashi dipped his head and Naruto knew he hit the nail on the head.

"Why don't we destroy Gatō and take his incoming sales to further benefit Konoha, _while _saving Tazuna and stopping us from fighting Zabuza?"

"This isn't an assassination mission, Naruto." Kakashi sighed.

"But-"

"If Gatō were to die of... death by _shock_ and his building was destroyed, certain documents _'destroyed' _in the fire... It may be acceptable _then_." Kakashi stressed his words carefully and Naruto smirked.

"Dog and Fox gonna' go wild?" he asked hopefully; Kyuubi was itching to come out... He could make that day his play time, right?

"Dog and Fox going wild." Kakashi confirmed.

"Even though Ojiisan may get angry?"

"If Hokage-sama gets annoyed, hand him the files and we'll be fine."

* * *

Sasuke and Sakura were puzzled by the change in both Naruto and Kakashi, but thought nothing about it.

Naruto had asked Yuu to ask Hitomi about Kyuubi being a fox summon and the queen fox confirmed that it _was _possible. Unheard of, but entirely possible.

"Kakashi-sensei is taking me to train!" Naruto beamed, bouncing around the house.

Sasuke and Sakura thought nothing of it.

They were confused however, when they returned sixteen hours later. They were covered in blood and Naruto's eyes had a distinct red tinge to them. His empty bag was now bulging and he had six other bags on his person. Kakashi hadn't taken a bag and he returned with twelve bags, all equally bulging.

"Tazuna-san, you shouldn't worry about Gatō any more," Naruto giggled. "He's been... Taken care of."

"And Zabuza? His apprentice?" Tazuna exhaled in glee; he was free to finish the village!

"Coming to Konoha with us." Kakashi replied, tone clipped.

The pair went to bathe.

Sasuke and Sakura shared a look. Kakashi and Naruto obviously had a deeper past than they had previously suspected; Naruto called him "oniisan" and Kakashi was always worrying about the boy, Sakura knew. Sasuke knew very little about their relationship, despite how often Kakashi had been around his estate to watch over Naruto.

Sakura removed a small notepad from her bag and a pencil. She wrote down what she knew; the relationship between Kakashi and Naruto was different, somehow. It was stronger. Sasuke took the pencil and added to her notes. Visits when he was younger, special training, ice cream...

"How do you think they met?" Sakura asked, tone low. She'd correctly guessed from the month spent with the pair that they _both _had enhanced senses. She wrote that out, too.

"Naruto wasn't accepted by my father for the longest time; it was my mum and Itachi that brought him home, but my father didn't agree." Sasuke's eyes went distant, like he was trying to remember something. "He finally accepted him after... After... After what?" He slammed his head on the table, trying to remember _something_. "We were only young and that's when sensei started coming over. Naruto was seriously hurt, I think... Otousan was _furious_. He told the Police force that if they weren't defending everyone, he'd shut the organisation down. That's when he started cooking with Naruto and taking him all over Konoha..."

Sakura was writing down minor details. Kakashi had saved Naruto... Saved him from what?

"Sasuke, what's a jinchūriki?" Sakura asked, pausing in her writing. Zabuza had pulled Naruto's shirt up, to see what?

"It means Power of Human Sacrifice," he told her airily, trying to think. "They're like a scroll containing a kunai, basically."

So why did Naruto ask Zabuza if he was a jinchūriki? "Zabuza was called a demon..."

Her mind jumped to the scene in the street, where she'd hit the man. "The man in the street called Naruto a demon, didn't he?"

Sasuke nodded, confusion in his eyes. "What does that have to do with anything?"

"When's Naruto's birthday?" Sakura asked, writing down her thoughts. Naruto was a jinchūriki. The village knew. The village hated Naruto for it.

"October tenth..." Sasuke trailed off, reading her notes.

October tenth is Naruto's birthday. "Sasuke... What attacked on Naruto's birthday?"

Recognition dawned in Sasuke's eyes. "How could one man defeat an entity of pure chakra and fighting prowess?" Sasuke asked quietly. Naruto was a jinchūriki to the Kyuubi. The Fourth sealed it in a new born babe.

"He couldn't. Kakashi said that the Uzumaki's had a massive knowledge of fūinjutsu. Maybe Uzumaki Kushina had told the Fourth what to do?" Sakura theorised, beginning to write out several theories.

_One_, Uzumaki Kushina had sealed the demon into Naruto and lived but didn't want to live with a demon son; how did the Fourth die, then?  
_Two_, Uzumaki Kushina had sealed the demon into Naruto and died, because even though she would have had massive chakra resources, she'd just given birth and the fox was pure, raw chakra; how did the Fourth die, then?  
_Three_, Uzumaki Kushina had told the Fourth what to do and had died during childbirth. The Yondaime sealed the demon, killing himself in the process.  
_Four_, Uzumaki Kushina had taught the Fourth and then died for birthing a demon.

Sakura vowed that she would find out who Naruto's father was; it just didn't make sense. Naruto had a striking resemblance to the Fourth Hokage, too... Blue eyes, blond hair, that same jawline...

Either way, it didn't look good. "Sakura... You know that Naruto isn't the demon, right?" Sasuke was growing concerned at her usage of "a demon" in her notes.

Sakura hummed. "Naruto could never, ever be a demon. A demon wouldn't have put up with me for so long."

* * *

Kakashi's ears twitched. Sakura and Sasuke had discovered that Naruto was a jinchūriki, huh?

He slid his mask up and covered himself in a towel. He left the sanctuary of his room and sat down next to them, silent. "You've uncovered an S-class secret." he began. "I hope this discussion doesn't leave this room."

The two of them visibly flinched; they didn't know he was there! "You should be grateful Naruto is asleep," he carried on. "Do you not realise that if someone doesn't tell you something, you shouldn't go and find out what the problem is? Now, if either of you say _anything _about this to Naruto and judge him for something that was **out of his control**, I will send you to the Hokage and let him deal with you. You will see why he is called The Professor."

The discussion was interrupted by a knock on the door. Kakashi shot the pair of them a dark smile; the curve of his lips was visible through his tight mask and the pair of them shuddered. Sakura tucked her notes into her boot and stared down at the table, very much like a reprimanded child.

Kakashi opened the door, leaning against the frame. "Haku, Zabuza!" the man greeted, shifting and letting them into the house. Zabuza came in first, smirking at Tazuna.

"Sorry, old man. It was all in the job, see."

Tazuna nodded stiffly. "You can make it up to me by helping me finish the bridge."

Zabuza inclined his head and sat down at the table.

Sakura eyed Haku with a curious look; her senses were telling her that he was a girl, but he was a boy. He had a pretty face, framed by long dark hair. He had the prettiest brown eyes she'd ever seen, full of emotion and the boy's dark lashes enhanced his beauty.

"Hello," Sasuke greeted Haku coldly. "How old are you?"

"I'm fifteen..." Haku trailed off; the tension in the air was suffocating. "How old are you?"

Sasuke sneered and replied with, "Thirteen. Why are you coming to Konoha with us?"

"Naruto-kun invited us." Haku retorted stiffly, leaning into the shadows. The _nerve _of this boy! "Why? Are you jealous?"

Sasuke's mouth snapped shut and the Uchiha shot the boy a savage look. "Naruto is _mine_, okay?"

"I'm not a possession," Naruto interrupted, sounding vaguely amused. "What is this about?"

Sasuke glowered at Haku and didn't give Naruto an answer.

Naruto frowned and looked at Kakashi. Kakashi shrugged. "When are we leaving?"

"We're helping Tazuna finish the bridge then going, brat." Zabuza answered. "Hatake, you need to put some clothes on."

* * *

Naruto made several hundred clones to help with the bridge; because of the increased man-power and general morale, the bridge was finished and connected to the mainland within two days.

"Bye, Tazuna-san!" Naruto called, leading the group away.

"Kid! The bridge is going to be called the Great Uzumaki Bridge, so you better come back soon!" Tazuna replied, waving. He'd heard from Kakashi that Naruto had taken out the thugs and Naruto had left them twenty thousand ryo to help repair the country. A small amount was left to Tsunami, who later discovered she was pregnant with a sweet man named Kaiza. The child was going to be named Inari.

The men behind him roared and cheered for the people who had saved them.

"Aw brat, how sweet." Zabuza cooed, pinching one of the boy's cheeks. "Now, tell me about Konoha. Always wanted to visit, but it never really stuck out as a holiday destination."

"The village... It's warm and happy, and the best view is on top of the Hokage monument," Naruto beamed, enthralling Haku and Zabuza with his tales of the village. "You'll have to see Sasuke's estate, too. He has some of the _best _trees, they're massive and great to jump in!"

Zabuza listened with half an ear. If the village was like the Mist in terms of jinchūriki, Naruto was treated like shit. Utakata was a relative of the Mizukage, but he'd defected twice and had been brought back kicking and screaming.

"Hey, Zabuza-san... Could you describe the Mizukage to me?"

"The Mizukage? He's kinda' young to be a Kage, but he has a baby-face, too. He has light grey hair, pink eyes and this stitch-scar running down his left cheek, from his eye. He's an arsehole. Quite small in height, too."

Naruto nodded. He knew the types. "And Utakata?"

Zabuza realised that he was asking about the jinchūriki and sighed. "Utakata is quiet, calculating and very hateful of the village. He dislikes the Rokubi but she always takes over in bad situations. He has these golden eyes that literally pierce ya' and dark black hair, kinda' short. In terms of height, he's tall and hefty. He's got the best damn water control I've ever seen, and that's saying something. He uses bubbles to attack and he can use them from transport, too."

Naruto filled the information away and began to sketch their faces in his mind.

The trip home was near silent; Kakashi was reading, Sasuke was stealing glances at Naruto, Sakura was theorising, Haku was wondering about the tension in the air and Naruto was chatting Zabuza's ear off.

"Kid, how do you think your ojiisan will deal with us? We're seeking refuge and I'm hoping to get us into the shinobi ranks."

"Ojiisan will be happy to have new faces in the village, I think, but he'll be a bit suspicious of your motives. He'll be more worried about you, Zabuza-san, but Haku should be fine. I think you should mention Haku's bloodlimit but say you refuse to let him pop out tonnes of babies."

Zabuza snorted and shook his head.

* * *

The brat was partly right; the Hokage was furious at what Kakashi and Naruto had done, but he was placated by all of the money and jobs they'd manage to 'save'. The man was furious at the fact that they'd brought home company, but once Zabuza explained the situation and what they could bring the village, the man allowed them refuge.

"You will, however, be interrogated thoroughly before you're even _considered _to be shinobi and even then, you will be trailed by ANBU until we are sure of your alliance and loyalty."

"With all due respect, Hokage-sama, we're only here because of the blond brat. The way your village treats him is _disgusting_."

The man's eyebrows shot up and he gestured for Team Kakashi to leave.

"The kid is a jinchūriki, right? Why do you let him get treated like a scape goat? I have no doubt he could flatten this village if he wanted to, but he chooses not to. If you push him too far, he will snap."

The Hokage shook his head and allowed himself to show weakness. "I know."

Zabuza was stumped by the answer. He couldn't bring himself to feel anger at the man; he was forced to take up the mantle of being a Hokage again after the Fourth died. He didn't ask for this.

Zabuza inclined his head and accepted the man's silence.

* * *

"I'm going to get some Ichiraku!" Naruto smiled at the three. "Bye!"

The boy sped off, leaving a furious Kakashi with Sasuke and Sakura. "Sasuke, why are you ignoring him?"

"I'm not!" the boy objected.

"Yes, you are." Sakura added her two cents in, pausing in her frantic theorising.

* * *

Naruto gulped his tea down quickly before ordering his sixth bowl of ramen. "Salt, please!"

He shovelled the food into his mouth and had finished the dish within a minute. He drank the broth remaining, threw down forty ryo and left for the library, yelling a thanks over his shoulder as he left.

He was going to study physics, chemistry, biology and psychobiology. He created several clones and had them learn the books by memory, so that he could recite them back to Kurama who would simplify things. He wasn't great academically, but he wanted to learn about physics and its correlation to his jutsus so he could make them brilliant, chemistry just because, biology to learn about bodies and plant hormones and psychobiology to see how the human mind coped with certain pressures, how it would cope in situations and use this in real life. Could he tell by a person's body language, how they were going to attack? He hoped so.

He dispelled the clones and winced at the overload of information, but it was worth it. He recited them to Kurama who groaned and attempted to explain it, but it sounded like a garbled mess to the blond boy. He shrugged and replaced the books, before he saw a hidden book on sealing that made him curious.

He grabbed that one before searching everywhere for more. By the end of his hunt, he'd found fourteen scrolls on sealing and well over thirty books.

"Aye aye, oneesan!" he called the young girl behind the desk. "Can I check these out, please?"

The assistant smacked her cherry-red lips together and nodded, scanning the books out. "In whose name?"

"Uzumaki-Uchiha Naruto!"

She glanced up and nodded, wordlessly handing him the items. "Thanks, sis!" he cheered, making four clones and rushing to the Uchiha compound.

He dropped them onto his bed and sorted them into difficulty; one of them was written by the Sannin Jiraiya so he read that one first. There were more, all different in name but they all had similar writing styles. Naruto quickly realised Jiraiya had published several books under alias.

Naruto made six more clones and had them memorise the books. He dispelled them once they'd gotten through the 'easy' books and he sorted through the information. Seals were a mix of chakra, special ink and occasionally blood. They were used in a variety of everyday settings, from the explosion tags he owned to the locks on some doors.

He found out how to make his own locking seals and smirked, locking his bedroom drawers using the intricate design the book had shown. It was the kanji for "lock" mixed with his own blood, making it only accessible to him or someone with Uzumaki blood and chakra.

He made more and more clones, before he'd memorised the scrolls and books. He had no idea what to do with the new information, but he told himself to start using seals in his fighting.

He sent a clone to return the books and he headed to Uchiha training ground number four, which was a mix of terrain. It had sand, rocks, hills, trees, water... Everything to prepare you for missions.

He went through his stretches, forcing both of his legs behind his head and making splits before beginning to spar with an imaginary opponent. He made an explosion seal on one of the rocks, powering a large amount of chakra into the tiny seal. It took him roughly four seconds to do it; in those four seconds, he could be dead. He snarled at himself, making more and more seals until it took him 0.237 seconds to make one explosion seal.

He put on his weights and kept the amount the same.

He nodded and left the estate; he hadn't met with Konohamaru in a while and his little brother was probably becoming an excellent ninja by now-

_Oh_.

He was getting followed.

By a square rock.

With two eye holes.

His eye noticeably twitched and his foot lashed out, slamming into Moegi's face and sending the trio flying. "That is the worst disguise I have _ever_ seen!" Naruto yelled.

The three leapt out of the box in a flash of colourful smoke. "Boss, I knew you'd see through our disguise!" Konohamaru bemoaned. "Let's play ninja, Naru-nii!"

Naruto's expression softened and he grinned. Konohamaru began to run, followed by the sickly Udon and Moegi, with her bloody nose. The boy waited a full minute before following them, leaping over the small traps Moegi placed. She was good at them, he admitted. Very good!

He caught up with them, just to see Konohamaru slam into a tall boy in Kabuki paint and a catsuit. He had something strapped to his back, that looked suspiciously like a puppet.

The boy yelled and picked the kid up. "Who the fuck do you think you are?" he snarled into the boy's face.

Naruto unleashed a _lot _of killer intent, freezing the boy and his sister in place. Naruto grinned, flashing his teeth. "He's the Hokage's grandson, so I suggest you get your _fucking hands off him_!" Naruto hated swearing, but it came out when he was angry.

"I ai-ain't afraid of no Hokage-!" The boy was terrified. Who was he? He was worse than Gaara and that was saying something. He feared for his life in the next moment.

Naruto upped his killer intent, releasing his tight control on his chakra and lacing the lethal chakra into the killer intent. The boy paled and dropped Konohamaru, who ran behind his adopted brother. "I'm going to assume that you're here as a _guest_. If you continue to act so rudely in our village, I will **make **you leave."

The boy nodded and stammered out an apology.

"Naruto-niisan you're the best!" Moegi cheered.

"Naruto?" Temari gaped. "Uzumaki Naruto?"

He shot her an annoyed glance. "Yes?"

"Y-You're the one who sent the letter to Gaara-?"

"Gaara?" Naruto cocked his head. He was the container to Shukaku, right? "Yes, I am. Why?"

"Temari, Kankuro, what is the problem here?" A red haired boy appeared in a swirl of sand between the two.

"Are you Gaara?" Naruto smiled, non-threateningly, even though the killer intent was still in the air.

"Yes. Who are you?" Naruto took his time replying, going over the boy's appearance. He had pretty green eyes, crimson hair and pale skin. His hair was slightly parted to show the kanji for Love on his forehead. He had a large gourd strapped to his back, made out of wood. _Does he keep his sand in there?_

"I'm Uzumaki Naruto!"

Gaara gave him a grim smile. "Are we meeting here? Have the others been informed?"

"No... Why _are _you here, Gaara-san?" Naruto replied, getting closer to the boy. Konohamaru and his friends stayed where they were, knowing that they had Naruto to save them.

"The Chuunin exams..." Gaara trailed off, looking into the tree.

Naruto followed his gaze and he smiled at his brother. "Sasuke!"

Sasuke shot him a tiny smile, jumping out of the tree and walking to his brother. "Hey."

Gaara pressed a small note into Naruto's hand and left in another swirl of sand. Temari and Kankuro looked at him in unadulterated fear, turning to leave.

"Who are they, Naruto?" Sasuke stared after them. Why were they so scared?

"They're here for the Chuunin exams." Naruto grinned. "I wonder if Kakashi has entered us?"

"Yeah, he has." Sasuke handed him the form he had to fill in; it was disclaimer, to verify that it wouldn't be held against Konoha if they died in the exams. "We have to meet at the Academy tomorrow, 9:00am sharp."

Naruto gave Sasuke the smallest of smirks. "We're going to pass this, Sasuke. We're going to _win_!"

* * *

**The timeline has been heavily screwed. **


	3. Chuunin Exams

**Difference**

* * *

Sakura met the boys at the academy, blank faced. She wore her black and green cheongsam, slit up to her waist. She was swathed in bandages, covering her mouth and nose and extending down her body to her feet. Underneath the cheongsam, she had on a tight spandex half-body suit, covering her chest and her thighs. Her hair was pulled back into a tight ponytail and her hitai-ate was proudly on her forehead. Her bangs were cut short, the longest part reaching her cheek. Around her waist, she wore a dark blue sash and her katana and short sword were sheathed in the loop. Her kunai pouch was woven into the sash and barely visible to someone who didn't know where to find it.

Sasuke wore a tight black spandex body suit with bandages wrapped around his mouth and nose. He didn't want to inhale poison; he'd correctly assumed that the test would consist of fighting and if someone set off a poisonous smoke bomb or something similar, he wanted a chance to escape with minimal damage. The suit extended down his body, covering his fingers and toes. He wore a dark cloak with the hood pulled up, showing only black eyes. Beneath the cloak, he wore his typical clothing, white shorts and dark blue shirt. He wore two hundred and fifty pound weights on his legs, having the ability to run quick even with them on. They also provided strength in case of a fight, which was a massive bonus. He wore steel-capped shinobi boots.

Naruto wore his Kakashi-inspired outfit; his bandanna was removed and his blond hair was loose, showing his likeness to the Yondaime all the more. He wore a dark blue hitai-ate around his forehead. He wore a black spandex shirt, sleeveless and the mask pulled up. He had loose fitting arm warmers on, hiding metal arm sleeves and metal gloves. He could power chakra into them, which he found pretty damn amazing. It increased their weight and strength, so if someone got to the sides of him he could easily swing his arm around and take them out, as well as cut them slightly because of his wind-natured chakra. On his lower half, he wore knee-length dark shorts and knee-length steel plated boots, his three hundred and ten pound weights hidden away. He wore a sash around his right shoulder, which hid his weapons and the seals that contained his weapons. He kept his two fans hidden up the arm warmers.

He'd asked Kyuubi last night to make some modifications to his body and the fox had stuck to his word. He had slightly pointed ears now, able to detect noise from well-over four miles away. His eyes had become slightly slanted and his pupils were more slit-like now. He'd discovered that he could see everything clearly, even in the dark, although his eyes glowed in the dark. His teeth, normally very sharp compared to a humans, were now dangerously sharp. His fingernails were more like claws, but if he powered chakra into them they grew and the ends were at a point. His healing sped up, too; the time he'd spent walking around in the weights had torn and ripped his muscles apart but Kurama healed them instantly, forcing the muscles to grow at an exponential rate.

"We doing this?" Sakura asked nervously. The boys shot her a smile and her worries were soothed. They'd be fine.

They walked into the academy, handing their slips to the bored receptionist and walking up the first flight of stairs. They paused at the sight of fifty-so Genin trying to get through two doors to room 201, but they carried on walking.

"Maybe you kids should give up, if you're fighting at such a low-level?" A boy was kicked past the trio, wearing a tight green spandex body suit with a ridiculous bowl cut hair style.

"Especially if you can't notice such a simple genjutsu!" Sakura whispered mockingly, pushing her boys along. "Maybe you lot should turn around and leave huh? You're all weak when it comes to genjutsu; how do you expect to become a Chuunin at _that_?"

Her boys both smirked cockily, walking up the next flight of stairs.

The people blocking the door sighed, releasing their henge. "They must be Kakashi's brats."

"Aa," the other agreed. "Pretty good, if I do say so myself. The Uzumaki seemed shocked about the genjutsu, though. Probably dispelled it unconsciously. Why do the kids get the good stuff, huh?"

"I reckon he'd be an excellent power house. I think they'll all pass, just depends on their team-leading skills and their analysis abilities."

Naruto opened the door to the exam room, to sound of his fellow Konoha Genin laughing and shouting. The rest of the room was deadly silent. Naruto shook his head; they were pissing off a lot of people this way.

"Oi, oi!" he yelled over their yells. "Shut up!"

Kiba began to yell, asking how the dead-last thought he could tell them to be quiet when he was on a team with a pink haired banshee, only to be on the end of a Sand Genin's killer intent. "You're annoying." Gaara called from his position near the front of the room.

An older boy walked up to them, laughing and scratching his neck. "I was just going to tell you to be quiet." he confessed. Naruto faltered; he wanted to go to Gaara but his instincts were screaming that this kid was dangerous. "You're annoying a lot of people."

The rookies all turned to stare at the class and they all slammed their lips shut. Everyone in the room was glaring. "You should avoid annoying people. Are you rookies?"

"Yes," Ino beamed. "And we all got nominated! We must be great!"

"Aa," Kabuto hummed. "I thought so too, till I failed all seven times." Ino face-faulted.

Sakura was too busy scoping out the competition. More than five sixths of the people taking the exam were male. Ino and Hinata were both in trouble.

"Hinata-chan, come here for a sec?" Sakura smiled disarmingly. Hinata obeyed, flushing slightly.

"Hinata, I know this may be hard but... There are a lot of men here. Are you covered?" Sakura looked pointedly at the girl's chest and lower region.

Hinata paled and started pressing her fingers together. "Um- I have shorts on...?"

Sakura nodded and pressed several rolls of bandages into her hands, also slipping the girl her short sword. "I'm not trying to freak you out, but... _Anything goes_."

The Inuzuka heard every word and he felt physically sick. "Does that sort of stuff happen?" he asked Sakura quietly.

She looked at him and nodded. "I hope that you and Shino keep an eye out for her. Naruto and Sasuke made sure I was strong enough that I didn't need them to defend me, but... Hinata-chan lacks confidence."

Hinata looked dejected at the fact they were so readily dismissing her, till tan arms wound around her neck. "I believe in you, Hinata. You won't get hurt, I'm sure of it!" Naruto whispered into her ear, listening to Kabuto.

"I want to know about Uzumaki Naruto, Uchiha Sasuke, Haruno Sakura and Gaara of the Sand." Neji's smooth voice broke Naruto's focus and he stopped hugging the girl, twirling around to stand by him. He rose an eyebrow at the grey haired boy.

"Uzumaki Naruto. Age, twelve. Completed ninety six D-rank missions and one A-rank mission. Any information about his skills is blacked out..." Kabuto gave the boy a frustrated look.

"Uchiha Sasuke. Age, thirteen. Completed ninety six D-rank missions and one A-rank mission. Rates at 4 in taijutsu, 4 in ninjutsu and 3.4 in genjutsu."

Sasuke smirked. "Those cards aren't correct then, ah?"

Kabuto snarled silently but carried on. "Haruno Sakura. Age, thirteen. Completed ninety six D-rank missions and one A-rank mission. Rates at 1.3 in taijutsu, 1 in ninjutsu and 4.6 in genjutsu."

"Gaara of the Sand. Age, thirteen. Any information is blacked out."

Naruto had heard enough and went to sit with Gaara in tense silence. "Good morning," he greeted, raising a hand in greeting. He was slightly puzzled about Sasuke's skill rating, when Kyuubi had marked him so much lower.

"**Favourtism**." Kyuubi yawned in his mind. **  
**

"Mother is quiet around you. Is it the Kyuubi?" Gaara asked bluntly; the Sand Genin around them tensed. _They know about the tailed beasts, then._

"Probably," Naruto shrugged. "He's been kinda' quiet since I sent the foxes out. They've all agreed to meet us, though."

Naruto flinched as a sharp, wailing sound hit his ears. He clasped his hands over them. His eyes flashed a violent red. Something was squealing, higher than normal people could hear but because of the modifications, Naruto could hear it. Kiba and Akamaru were whining too, Kiba trying to cover his own ears while trying to protect Akamaru.

The noise didn't stop. Naruto felt the Kyuubi's fury and the fox took over, spreading his deathly chakra through the room and targeting the source. He pinned the boy to the spot with killer intent, knowing that people were staring but not giving a damn. It _hurt_.

Some people in the room began to shake, the weaker Genin taking the exam.

Gaara sighed and wrapped his sand around the boy's feet, pulling over to the boy. "Calm down, Uzumaki Naruto." Gaara clasped his own hands on top of Naruto's and pressed in, blocking the sound with both his hands and making the sand muffle the sound out..

The boy snarled but the red eyes faded into an angry blue. Kiba stopped whimpering in the corner, but now he felt _scared _of the dead last! Akamaru had frozen the moment the boy's eyes flashed red. "You just made yourself a target, Naruto-san." Gaara shook his head with a smirk. "I expect you to kill the opposition."

Naruto gave him a slight grin. "You got it, panda."

Smoke filled the front of the room and Naruto smirked at the sight of Ibiki. He waved at the man, grinning stupidly. Ibiki used to look after him as a baby and Naruto could remember the man's warm hands and the happy little smile he had whenever Naruto demanded to be picked up by only him.

Ibiki slapped a hand against his head. "... Naruto."

The Chuunin and invigilators all around shared smirks. "Naruto!" one piped up. "Didn't know you were taking this exam, kid!"

"Kakashi-nii signed me up!"

The new arrivals cheered. "Finally!" another yelled.

"Shut up." Ibiki moaned. "Don't play nice with Fox, please. Sorry to keep you waiting. I am the examiner of the first test, Morino Ibiki. You three from the Hidden Sound!"

The Sound team looked up, furious that they had been upstaged by a little brat. "Don't think you can do anything you want before the exam."

Naruto grinned savagely, bowing his head at the invigilators around Ibiki. "Do you want us to fail you already, Sound team?"

"I'm sorry. We're excited because it's our first exam." Ibiki smiled.

"You are not allowed to fight each other during the exam unless given permission by the examiners. Even if permission is given, you are not allowed to kill the other. Pigs who go against me will be failed. Understood?"

One of the Sound ninja's scoffed. "This exam seems nice and easy."

The ninjas behind Ibiki all shared looks of amusement. This exam would not be easy.

"We will now begin the first exam. Take one of these number tags and sit where the number tells you to. We will then pass out papers for the first exam."

The Genins lined up and took numbers; Naruto got 168, Sasuke got 146 and Sakura got 53.

Naruto was sat next to Hinata, who blushed and stared at him when he sat. "Let's do our best, okay?" Naruto gave her a brief eye-smile before turning his attention to Ibiki.

"This first exam has a couple of rules. Any questions will result in a fail, so listen carefully."

The man began to write on the board. "The first rule is; you'll start with ten points at the beginning of the test. Each question is worth one point, meaning there is ten questions. The test is a deduction based test. If you get a problem wrong, you lose a point."

Naruto quickly realised he wouldn't answer any of them. If he had no problems wrong, he couldn't lose a point.

"Second rule. The past-fail decision will be determined by your teams total points."

Sakura bit her lip. Sasuke and Naruto shouldn't answer any questions and they'd be fine. "Third rule. If an examiner determines that you cheated or do something similar during the test, each action will lose you two points. Five strikes and you're out. This also means that there are people who will be forced to leave this place without their tests being graded. Those who try to cheat without thinking carefully will only hurt themselves."

"Also. If anyone on the team gets a zero, the team automatically fails. The last problem will be given 45 minutes after the test begins. You have one hour for the exam."

Ibiki paused for a moment, watching the clock. "Begin!"

Naruto wrote his name at the top of the paper and fell into a light sleep. Ibiki turned his back to hide his laughter. Naruto had the right idea, oh yes he did.

Sakura powered through the questions and turned her paper over, resting on her arms. She was confident that she had the right answers.

Sasuke finished the paper with half an hour to spare but he took his time scoping out the competition. The Sound team were cocky but powerful in their own right; Dosu was using the scratches of pencils on paper to write the answers and the girl was using ninja wire to use reflections, much like Tenten and Lee.

Our of the seventy six teams, less than half had already failed.

Naruto's head shot up and Sakura flinched awake. Forty five minutes had passed. The two of them stared at Ibiki, awaiting the tenth question eagerly. Ibiki felt slightly unnerved that they'd both 'woke' up at the same time, the moment the clock hit forty five minutes. _Odd._

"You're all going to choose if you want to take this tenth problem or not. If you choose not to take it, your points will be reduced to zero. You will fail. Your teammates will fail along with you."

"What's the meaning of that?!"

"Of course we're going to take it!"

"Teammates also failing is bull!"

"I have a rule. If you choose to take it, and you get it wrong... You will lose the privilege to take the Chuunin exam forever!"

_Liar, _Naruto hissed in his mind. _No Kage would willingly agree to giving up potential ninja_.

Kiba objected loudly, faltering when Ibiki began to laugh.

"You were unlucky." Ibiki muttered darkly. "This year, I am the examiner. That's why I gave you the option of quitting. Those who are not confident can choose not to take it, and take the exam the year after that, and the year after that."

Sakura liked the way the man dealt with people. He was ruthless. "Let's begin, ah?" Ibiki smiled cruelly. "Those who will not be taking the tenth question, raise your hand. After we confirm the numbers, we will let you leave."

The man next to Naruto raised his hand. "I-I... I quit! I won't take it!"

Naruto almost felt sorry for the sod. His teammates stood up and the man stuttered out apologies. Soon, seven more people raised their hands and left, leaving a slightly bare room.

"I give you one more chance. If you want to quit, do it now."

Nobody moved. _78 students. Anko will be pissed_. The man sighed. "For the first exam, everyone here... Passes!"

The man began to explain the meaning of the test, laughing when people began to complain. "Those who cheated and failed... Why?" The man removed his bandanna, showing the numerous scars and holes on and in his head. The Genins were shocked. "Information can have greater value than life at times, and in missions and battlefields... Information is contested with the lives of people."

"How awful... Burn marks, screw holes, cut marks... Torture."

"The information that an enemy gets after being noticed by a third person will not necessarily be accurate. Remember this; getting incorrect information can cause great damage to your teammates and village. So, we made you gather information in guise of cheating. We kicked out those who were lacking in that field. That's what happened."

Ibiki snorted. "The last question was the point of the first exam. It was a take or not take choice. It's a painful, two-choice problem. Those who didn't take it failed with their teams. If you chose to take it, and couldn't answer it... Your right to take the exam would be taken away forever. It was a very insincere problem. How about this? Let's assume that you became Chuunin. Your mission is to capture a secret document. The number of enemies, their abilities and armaments are unknown. There may be many traps that the enemy has set up. Do you accept the mission or not? Just because your life and the lives of your teammates may be in danger, are you able to avoid dangerous missions? The answer is... No.

Missions carry heavy risks, but cannot be avoided. The ability to show your courage to your team when need and the ability to get through a bad situation... That's what we look for in a Chuunin, a squad leader. Those who cannot bet their fate in a critical situation, those who give up when given the chance because there is a next year and let their minds be swayed over an uncertain future... Fools who only carry a light determination like that have no right to become a Chuunin. That's what I believe. Those still here chose the right answer to the tenth question... You can deal with the difficulties you will face. You have broken through the entrance! The First exam to the Chuunin selection ends now. I wish you luck."

A blur shot through the window, but to Naruto's eyes he knew it was a kunoichi. The woman threw two kunai, both hitting in the same length as each other, and stood in front of a massive sign that read "Second Examiner, Mitarashi Anko!"

"Everybody, there's no time to be happy!" Anko yelled. Naruto wanted to squeal at the sight of his sister but held it in; he had plenty of time to catch up with her after the Chuunin exam, right?

"I am the second examiner, Mitarashi Anko. Let's go to the next exam! Follow me!" she yelled happily, pumping her fist into the air.

"Grasp the atmosphere." Ibiki snorted, peeking around her sign.

"Seventy eight?" Anko was incredulous. "Ibiki, you let 26 teams pass?"

The man nodded. "Ah, well. I'm going to make more than half of the teams fail in the next exam."

"More than half?" Sakura muttered.

"I'm getting excited..." Anko whispered to herself, but Naruto heard it clearly. "I want you to meet me tomorrow! We will go somewhere else, so ask your teachers about the rally point and time. That is all. Dismissed!"

The Genins all piled out, except for Naruto and his team.

The blond boy threw his arms around the woman's waist and nuzzled her stomach. "Anko-ane!"

"Gaki!" The woman grinned. "You've gotten taller, see? You just to reach my belly button, but now you're near my tits!"

Naruto flushed and glared at her. "Shush. Want some dango?"

The woman nodded and smiled happily. "Kids, you want some? Ibiki?"

Ibiki nodded, ruffling Naruto's fluffy hair. "Naruto, how do you know all these people?" Sasuke asked, amused.

"Anko-ane and Ibiki looked after me when otousan couldn't! Ibiki knew me as a baby, too!" Naruto chirped, pulling the adults out of the building and towards a small dango stand. Sakura filed the information away; Naruto was an enigma, one that she intended to puzzle out.

* * *

Sakura packed all off her weapons, pills, bombs, anything, even stocking up from the shop. She wanted to be prepared.

Naruto had packed a brush and had made several large pots of blood-filled ink to use in his seals. He stocked up on everything, buying several sets of kunai and shuriken and sharpening his already-existing weapons. He didn't want to be caught unaware.

Sasuke bought several chakra-enhancing formulas, knowing that himself and Sakura may need the boost. Naruto didn't, he never did.

"We need to meet at the Forest of Death, 6:30am." Naruto recited. He nodded to himself, grabbed Sasuke's hand and left.

Sakura smiled at the duo when they arrive and held Naruto's hand in her own. She wanted to show that they were a united front.

"This place is where the second exam will take place. The 44th training area... Also known as the Forest of Death." Sakura tuned into the woman speaking.

The woman was good with her words, lowering her tone and increasing the tempo at _just_ the right moments. She was enviable.

Naruto gazed at the forest in slight trepidation. He could already hear the howls of animals inside. "Ne, Anko-ane..."

Anko flinched and shot a kunai at the blond haired boy. He leapt to the right. "Brat! What did I say about you calling me that?" She hit him on the head, eye twitching. "I'm going to lose my cool image because of you."

The woman pulled out another kunai when someone else came up behind her, a long tongue unfurling. "Here is your knife." The lady smiled.

"Thank you!" Anko beamed, taking the knife from the woman. "But, don't stand behind me like that. That is, if you want to die young."

The tongue shot back. "Well, I get itchy at the sight of blood. Also, my hair was cut so I got a little excited... I'm sorry." The woman walked away.

"Looks like there are a lot of hot-blooded people here today, ah?" Anko laughed. "This is gonna' get interesting."

The woman strode back to the front, handing Naruto her two kunai. "Now, to be concise, you will all go through an extreme survival match. First, I'll explain the areas geographical areas. The 44th training area is a circular region surrounded by 44 locked gate entrances. There is a river, a forest and a tower in the middle. The tower is approximately 10km away from the gates. Inside this limited space, you'll have to go through a certain survival program. The program consists of... A competition where anything goes over these scrolls. The Scroll of Heaven and the Scroll of Earth. You will fight over these scrolls."

A bird cawed in the distance. "26 teams made it through to the second exam. Half of the teams will get the Scroll of Heaven and the other half will get the Scroll of Earth. Simply, you have to fight over these."

"What's needed to pass?" a Mist Genin asked.

"Bring both of the scrolls to the tower with your teammates."

"So, half of the people who lose there scroll will fail." Sakura deducted. She began to sense out the weaker opponents. Sadly, the majority were the Konoha rookies.

"But, it needs to be done within the time limit. The second exam has a time limit of 120 hours. Here are the things that will fail you. First, a team that cannot bring both scrolls to the tower with three teammates will fail. Second, the team that loses a teammate or produces an unrecoverable teammate will fail. Also, just a suggestion... Do not open the scrolls until you get to the tower. If you become a Chuunin, you will be handling top secret documents. It's to determine your reliability. Aa, that's it for the explanation! You get your scrolls at that hut." She pointed to the three men sat to the right of her. "And, after picking your gate entrance, everyone will begin at the same time. Here's a last piece of advice... Don't die."

Sasuke watched as they drew the curtain around the hut. They wouldn't know who had what scroll or which member of the team was carrying it.

"Ah, it's you! Shiny forehead girl!" Ino greeted. "I thought for sure you'd go home, you weak little kid."

"Ah, it's the disgusting street pig people like to call Ino!" Naruto greeted her back. _  
_

"Or, rather, weak little **whore**." Sakura eye-smiled at the girl's hurt expression.

"Will you leave my teammate alone, please?" Sasuke stood up and put himself in front of Sakura. He knew she was strong, but Ino pushed all the wrong buttons that could send the girl spiralling back in a relapse.

"Will you go on a date with me, Sasuke-kun?" Ino cooed, batting her dark eyelashes. Sasuke inwardly snarled at the amount of make up the girl wore.

"If you have enough time to ask me on a date, you have enough time to train yourself to be a good kunoichi." Sasuke told her bluntly. "How about, instead of wasting time chasing _me_, you actually work with your team? Kami knows that you're meant to be the next Ino-Shika-Cho formation but so far, all it seems to be is Shika-Cho. You're **weak**, Ino."

Ino flushed and yelled, "Sakura, you can't get through this! Just go home for your own sake!"

"You should be worrying about yourself, Ino-san." Sakura told her smoothly, standing up and taking her teammates hands. They had to get their scroll.

They lined up and were the sixth team to enter; Naruto summoned one of the foxes the moment they were hidden away. "I can use summons to hide my scroll, right?"

The examiners nodded. "We didn't see a thing."

Naruto was given the Heaven scroll and he analysed the stroke of the brush, the way the scroll was set out... He nodded and hoped he had a pot of ordinary ink. If someone came looking for their scroll, he could give them a dud.

"Yuu, look after this for me, okay?"

The fox nodded eagerly and accepted the scroll. "Hitomi-sama says you can call her whenever you want!" The fox grinned and disappeared.

"Let's do this." Sasuke commanded, leading the way out of the hut. He ignored the looks the examiners were sharing.

"If you have received a scroll, follow the person in charge and move to your designated gates! We will begin in thirty minutes!"

Sakura pulled them towards gate twelve, feeling her nerves come out to play. She bit her lip and shook her head. "We'll be fine, won't we?"

Sasuke's dark eyes watched her beneath the cloak and he blinked once, signalling a yes.

"Naruto, what's the deal with the red haired kid?" Sakura asked curiously.

"Gaara? Gaara's my friend!"

"Is he like you?" Sakura asked.

"W-what do you mean?" the boy stammered, tugging on a long piece of blond hair.

"Is he nice? Calm? Friendly?"

"Oh! Nah, he's pretty cold but he's nice."

Sakura hummed and nodded, adding that to her mental notes. _Makes friends with randomers and gets nervous about "like you"._

The gates slid open and the three of them flew off, getting deep into the forest and settling in a high tree. "Naruto, can you spread your chakra out and find us some enemies?" Sakura asked quickly, pulling out several scrolls. Naruto noticed that she had both pale and dark scrolls, so he pulled out his brush and a normal pot of ink, copying the symbols from memory.

He spread his chakra through out the forest, sensing a team of Grass ninja around a mile and half to the right. "There's a Grass team near, do you want me to go t them or do we go as a team?"

Sakura thought for a moment before telling him to go on his own. Naruto nodded and leapt through the trees, coming across a small clearing in the forest. The Grass team had a Heaven scroll clearly on display and Naruto smirked. "Idiots." He was going to destroy them using Scorch release. "_Shakuton: Satsujin_." he whispered, flashing his hands through the tiger, snake, bird and monkey hand symbols before three large, glowing balls shot at the Grass ninja. They were dead before they had chance to scream and Naruto smirked cruelly. Their bodies lacked moisture and their bodies were mummified.

He raided the bodies, cursing at the sight of the Heaven scroll but pocketing it anyway. He took their equipment and nodded, leaping into the trees and travelling north. He'd felt a Kiri team up ahead and he wanted them out of the running, too.

He used a concentrated gust of wind to slice their bodies apart and raided them, too. He found another damn Heaven scroll and snarled, taking their weapons and food before leaving to find Sasuke and Sakura.

The two hadn't moved from their spot, waiting for their teammate. They got worried when twenty minutes passed and he wasn't back, so they spiked their chakra and began to run, deeper into the forest and closer to the tower.

Sakura screamed loudly when a giant snake shot out of the trees and swallowed her. Sasuke was left on his own and the damn snake was moving.

"Sakura!" the boy yelled, leaping after her-

only to be backhanded by the woman who returned Anko's kunai.

"Aa, Sasuke-chan... She'll be dead soon, but don't worry. I'll make sure you can be at her funeral!" the woman cooed.

* * *

Sakura started cry from her position inside of the snake. What was happening? Who was that person?

Naruto leapt over the snake before slamming his foot down onto the snake, splattering its body all over him. He continued to pound the animal, until he saw Sakura's arms. He pulled her out through the small crater he made, pressing a bloody kiss to her forehead. She cried into him. "I couldn't- Sasuke-"

"Where is he, Sakura?" He kept his voice calm and hoped it was working.

"Um- It's to the north left of here-" Naruto nodded and sealed away his weights, removing hers at the same time. Kyuubi was howling in his mind but he wasn't saying why, so Naruto took every precaution to better themselves.

He picked her up, bridal style, and leapt high into the trees. He sensed Sasuke's chakra and heard the sound of pure carnage.

He left Sakura hidden in the trees. "Mask your chakra and gather your energy. If things look bad, I need you to get Sasuke and yourself _away _okay? I'll find you after, but _get away_."

Sakura nodded through teary-eyes. Naruto sounded like a boy leaving for his death.

He smiled and left her sat there, weak and alone. She couldn't help but cry.

Naruto leapt down into the battle, slamming his bloody boots into the woman's neck. The woman howled and retracted his neck. "Sasuke?" Naruto called, calm.

"Naruto? Is that you-?" Sasuke jumped onto the branch that Naruto was stood on, his head turning from side to side in fear. "You have to get out of here, he's too strong- He's going to kill us-"

"Sasuke. As long as I'm here, you're safe. I won't let you get hurt."

"How sweet!" The woman cackled. "But I guarantee-"

Naruto fixed her with a blank stare, watching the woman with a glare. The woman silenced; she knew that glare, those eyes- _Minato?_

"Sasuke, you've activated your Sharingan. Three tomoe, each eye." Naruto smiled proudly.

"I- I have? Really?"

"Really." Naruto eye-smiled.

"Who are you, boy?" The woman sneered.

"Uzumaki-Uchiha Naruto." he spoke, deadpanned.

"Namikaze's brat?"

Naruto's eyes sharpened. Namikaze... Minato? The Fourth Hokage? "Namikaze?"

"Namikaze Minato. I see it now; the hair, the eyes... Ah, but I see Kushina-chan in you too! You have her height and face, his attitude..." Orochimaru thought quickly. Did he want the Uchiha or the Uzumaki?

The Uchiha eyes were precious but... The Uzumaki had many hidden homes around the land, all filled with valuable books.

Naruto used his time wisely, sending Sasuke up to Sakura to receive basic medical help before fixing Orochimaru with an evil, bloodthirsty grin. His eyes flashed red and he stooped low, the Kyuubi's first tail chakra shroud appearing around him.

"The Kyuubi?" Orochimaru stammered, taking an unconscious step back. The Uzumaki had the Kyuubi, too?

Did he want the Kyuubi or the Sharingan? Access to the Uzumaki and Namikaze heirlooms, or the Uchiha documents?

_Why not both?_ He smirked, shooting forward. _I could possess Naruto first and then take Sasuke for my ultimate body.__  
_

Kyuubi was just that bit quicker, using his _Shakuton _ability to create a 'tag' on Orochimaru. Now the man would never be free of the Kyuubi, who would slowly mummify parts of his body as the man lived. It would start on his arms, extending down to his legs before attacking his torso and head.

The fox shot through many handseals, slamming his hands into the branch. Orochimaru was stopped in his tracks as the branches around began to deform. The Kyuubi grinned. As the ninth demon, he was the strongest and, as such, had access to his fellow demons abilities in duress. He'd just used the Shichibi's _Mokuton_ ability to morph the trees, creating a small, flat arena to fight in, with curved walls and no escape route.

The fox concentrated, standing unsteadily on Naruto's legs, before shooting forward, balls of pure chakra lighting the way. Orochimaru howled as the fox slammed the ball into his stomach-

his insides were liquefying, he was going to die, the Kyuubi was going to destroy him-

The man stretched out his neck and bit the Kyuubi container on the upper arm, the only bit of skin visible aside from his eyes. Naruto howled as the Kyuubi was forcibly retracted.

Sasuke and Sakura jumped out of the trees, Sakura using her massive strength to throw Orochimaru into the air and then kick him in the stomach.

Orochimaru smirked because she'd just put him closer to the Uchiha. The man stretched out his long neck and injected his venom into Sasuke. Sasuke howled in pain, clutching the mark.

Sakura flinched at the scream and wrapped her hands around the neck, swinging the man around before slamming him into the trees.

She picked up her boys and fled, hoping that they'd wake up soon. Naruto was emitting awful chakra, the mark on his arm swirling furiously. Sakura felt the Kyuubi's chakra try to combat the foreign object but it seemed to be losing the battle.

* * *

Sakura ran for hours, trying to find the tower. She didn't care about winning now; Naruto was giving off enough chakra to power the village for months, drawing animals and insects to them, while Sasuke had little to no chakra in his system. She needed help-

Gaara dropped out of the trees, his eyes locked firmly on Naruto. "Girl, what happened?" Naruto's chakra was swirling angrily, sending a message to everyone in the vicinity. There was something wrong and he needed help.

"Gaara-san," she panted. "Help us, please- Orochimaru put his mark on them, the Kyuubi is going mad and Sasuke has no chakra, please help us!" She down onto her knees, begging the boy for help.

The boy wrapped sand around the trio and around his own feet, lifting them high above the trees. "I'm taking you to the tower. Do you have Heaven scrolls? We have both Heaven and Earth scrolls, but we only have an Earth scroll to spare."

"Yes-" She rooted through Naruto's sash and removed two Heaven scrolls. "Thank you for helping us-" she muttered weakly, before she fell asleep in the sand.

Gaara shook his head; the girl was strong, but she lacked stamina. He did know, however, that she would have kept running to the tower for her teammates.

He lowered down to the tower, shaking the girl awake. "We're here."

Sakura nodded and picked her boys up again. Naruto was in her arms because he was lighter, while Sasuke was on her back.

"Temari, give them an Earth scroll." Gaara ordered. The blonde girl nodded quickly, removing one of their Earth scrolls and pressing it into the pink-haired girl's hands.

"Thank you," she murmured again, sniffling. She was resisting the urge to cry, but it was hard. She was stressed and her Inner Sakura was slowly resurfacing. "I'm sorry to be such a bother."

"I didn't do it for you," Gaara told her bluntly. "I did it for Naruto."

Gaara entered through one of the doors and Sakura nodded stiffly. The urge to cry was coming in thick and fast, but she resisted. She pushed through the door closest to her and propped Sasuke on the floor, lying Naruto on top of his legs. She opened the scrolls, quickly judging that they were sealing scrolls. She threw them together and away from her.

"Well done!" Iruka smiled at her. She grinned back before fainting into his arms. "Woah-!"

Iruka looked at the two boys and the girl in his arms. He saw the seal on Naruto's arm and the seal on Sasuke's neck and teleported to the infirmary. "Kakashi! Hokage-sama!" he yelled.

* * *

Sakura, when she woke up, was very confused. "Hello?" she called, sitting up.

The Hokage appeared next to her. "Hello, Sakura-san."

Sakura bowed her head politely. "Hokage-sama, where is Sasuke and Naruto? Are we still in the competition?"

"Sasuke has had the curse seal sealed, Naruto is currently below the ground, yes you are. You have been asleep for a day, but you arrived on the first day of the five day limit, so you have three days left to recover."

"Why is Naruto underground? What were the marks?"

"Naruto is underground because the seal did not agree with him-"

"You mean the Kyuubi is fighting it, right? Naruto was leaking chakra all over so I think the Kyuubi is fighting it."

The Hokage's look of surprise reminded Sakura that she _wasn't _supposed to know about the Kyuubi. "Kakashi-sensei didn't tell me, Hokage-sama. Sasuke and I guessed after piecing a few pieces together."

The Hokage nodded thoughtfully. "Then, yes. The Kyuubi is attacking the seal ferociously but he's converting chakra kept in the seal, into Naruto's. He's trying to make Naruto stronger while keeping him away from the dangerous part of the seal."

Sakura pursed her lips and nodded. "What _is _the seal, Hokage-sama?"

"It's basically a piece of Orochimaru forced onto the recipient. It makes you relive your darkest days and you have to use the chakra Orochimaru forced onto you to get out of it, while the memory also tells you how weak you are and how you need Orochimaru for help."

Sakura grimaced at the thought. "Is that what Sasuke is going through?"

The Hokage nodded. "With the sealing of it, however, we're just forcing him to relive the memories and stopping the seal from spreading."

"Can I see Sasuke?" she asked politely.

The Hokage nodded and helped her up, steadying her when she stumbled. "I think you'll be able to help." the man told her, leading her down the hall to a bolted door. Kakashi and Anko stood outside.

Her emotions started welling up again and she threw herself into Kakashi, crying noisily. "Hey," the man soothed, stroking his hand through her hair and kneeling down to her level. "Calm down. You did brilliant, Sakura. You got Sasuke and Naruto to us in record timing and managed to survive an encounter with Gaara," he joked, making her laugh slightly.

"C-can I go in?" she hiccuped. Kakashi nodded and undid the bolts, following in after her. "Is Naruto okay, too? Where he is?"

Kakashi nodded, watching her take Sasuke's hand in hers. She was distraught; Sasuke was hooked up to numerous machines, keeping him in a temporary coma until he was strong enough to fight through it and he had an oxygen mask fitted over his face.

"We had to seal it immediately. His own concern over you and Naruto was causing him to fight the seal, which drained his chakra. If he kept trying, he would have ruined his coils beyond repair. Naruto was giving off enough chakra to send warning signals to everyone in a twelve mile radius but we couldn't interfere. I think the chakra helped Sasuke, though."

Sakura blinked and smiled. "He was concerned?"

"Aa," Kakashi agreed, taking the boy's other hand. "Very much so. I think it was Naruto's leaking chakra and your jostling that started it."

Sakura laughed. "I couldn't help it," she pouted. "I need to thank Gaara, too. He says he did it only for Naruto but I still want to thank him."

Kakashi inclined his head. Sasuke's hand twitched and Sakura gasped. "Is he waking up?"

"I think so... I think you being here did this, Sakura." Kakashi gave her an eye-smile, flicking a switch above the bed.

Sasuke's eyes opened, three swirling tomoe glaring up at the pair. "You're so loud," he complained, coughing. "Urgh."

"You activated the Sharingan?" Kakashi sounded immensely pleased. Sasuke smirked cockily and nodded, opening his eyes wider to show the man the fully-developed Sharingan. "Well done, Sasuke!"

"What happened with the man?" Sasuke asked Sakura softly, seeing the tear-tracks on her face. "Where's Naruto?"

"The man marked you and Naruto and I swung him away but... You were _both _out of it, Sasuke. I picked you two up and ran for what felt like days, until Gaara appeared. I think he sensed Naruto's chakra, because he only had eyes for him-"

Sasuke stiffened at the mention of Gaara. The boy creeped him out. "He didn't hurt you, did he? I'll kill him-"

Sakura laughed and pressed a kiss to the boy's forehead. The boy blushed in shock. "No, Sasuke. He got us to the tower and gave us an Earth scroll."

"Young love," Kakashi sniggered. "Now, who wants to see Naruto?"

Sasuke pulled out the wires in his arms, holding his arms up to Sakura. She obliged, pulling him up into a standing position before wrapping her left arm around his waist while he wrapped his right arm around her shoulders. "How long have I been out of it?"

"A day. We have three more days for Naruto to get better and then we'll have passed the exam, right?" She peered at Kakashi, leaving the room first.

Anko smiled at the youngest Uchiha, taking his other side. She was worried about the brat.

* * *

_"Anko-ane!" Naruto called, rushing down the street and pulling a little raven-haired boy with him. "Look, I have a brother!"_

_He gestured wildly to Sasuke and then turned to point at the smiling Uchiha's behind. "And a family, now! Look, see, they're **smiling**!"_

_Anko grinned and pulled the two into a hug. She ignored the glares coming from the people on the streets, aimed at both her and Naruto. "I'm glad for you, Naruto-kun. Now, what's your name, brat?"_

_"I am not a brat, dobe!" Sasuke pouted. "But my name is Uchiha Sasuke! My brother is Uchiha Itachi and my mummy and daddy... Well, I don't know their names but they're mummy and daddy!" Naruto nodded at Sasuke's logic._

_"Well, auntie Mikoto is auntie Mikoto and uncle Fugaku is uncle Fugaku," Naruto shrugged. "But if they're my family, they're yours and Ibiki-jii's family too!"_

_Anko laughed, shaking her head. "It doesn't work like that-"_

_"Anko is one of our cousins," Mikoto interrupted smoothly, putting an arm around the woman's shoulders. "Ne?"_

_Fugaku nodded along with Mikoto, giving Anko the tiniest of smiles. "Thank you for watching over Naruto." Mikoto whispered into the shocked woman's ear. "We really appreciate it."_

* * *

Anko shook herself from the memory and took them down to the lowest level of the tower, brushing off the angry chakra that filled the halls. They travelled down three flights of stairs, Kakashi overtaking and pressing his hand into the lock. He filled it with his chakra before spinning the bars, opening the door.

He knew the chakra in the halls was less agitated than it was before, meaning that the Kyuubi had had a breakthrough. Naruto was lying in the middle of the room in a cushy bed, with fluffy pillows and a soft duvet covering his small frame. His clothing had been removed, Kakashi and the Hokage greatly amused by his mask, and the Heaven scrolls had been retrieved. Yuu, one of the boys summons, had returned the Heaven scroll once she felt her Leader's distress. She'd asked to see the boy but the Hokage had to tell her no. The fox looked upset but nodded.

They didn't step into the room, knowing that the chakra up close was very deadly, but they provided support for the boy. "Come on, Kyuubi!" Sasuke yelled. "Hurry up and fix him, okay?"

Naruto began to exude more chakra in response. "Thank you very much, Kurama." Anko called into the room. "Naruto would probably be dead without you."

The chakra took a slight form, thick lines of visible chakra flying around the room. It took the form of a fox head, who nodded at the acknowledgement before disappearing.

"I thought the Kyuubi was evil?" Sakura asked nervously, flinching at the malicious chakra.

"Evil is a loose term, Sakura." Kakashi told her, leaning against the door. "Yes, the fox was evil when he destroyed many but the demon has proved himself to be kind. He protects that boy daily-"

"And tells the Shukaku to shut up," Gaara added on from behind the group. Anko stiffened; she hadn't sensed him at all! "The Kyuubi is the head boss of the demons, if you will. The Shukaku has told me that he has healed the container for the Shichibi, too. Yes, the Kyuubi is evil. Doesn't everyone have some evil in them?"

Anko nodded. "By that logic, everyone is evil. And _they are_."

Sakura bit her lip in thought. "Can we leave now?"

Gaara strode past them and went to sit on Naruto's bed, holding the tan hand in his own pale ones. The chakra didn't affect him at all, even though Sakura's eyes were burning and Kakashi's body was feeling weak. Kakashi nodded and left the door ajar.

"I still don't trust him," Sasuke said petulantly. "Even if he's comforting Naruto right now."

* * *

After three days, Kyuubi had fully removed the seal and Naruto was up and about, waiting for the last day to pass. Anko had said that, from the current numbers, there would probably be preliminary matches. If more people arrived, preliminary matches would be mandatory.

The day was passing by slowly and Naruto was desperate for it to speed up. He'd spent the day learning about Gaara's life and telling him about his own, describing the cruelty of the villagers and how they either grossly over-charged him for food or didn't allow him in that shop at all. He skimmed over the annual beatings and the general looks in the street, but he thought Gaara could guess.

Gaara, in turn, told him about Yashamaru and how the man had tried to kill him. He told him about the attempts on his life, lining up to be well over one hundred in numbers.

Naruto had fallen asleep and been shook awake by Gaara.

"We need to go to the arena, now." Gaara reminded the boy. Naruto grimaced and put on his gear, including his mask. He wrapped his sash around himself, sealing everything into the threading and left, following the Sand-nin.

They lined up at the bottom of the arena, only the Sand team and Team Kakashi looking well enough to fight. They'd been the first ones there, although no records were broken because Gaara had waited for Naruto.

"First off, congratulations on passing the second exam!" Anko greeted the group. _Twenty one passed, ah? I was hoping half would go but... I also hoped that there would be ten left._

Naruto heard Gai smack talk Kakashi and shook his head. Team Kakashi was strong; they'd forced a Sannin to retreat! If he thought his brats had anything on Team Kakashi, he had another thing coming.

"Hmm? Did you say something?" Kakashi replied, hearing Naruto begin to giggle. He raised his thumb in the boy's general direction.

Sasuke saw the Sound team snarl at him and one of them, the taller male, had his arms in a sling. _What happened?_

"We will now have an explanation of the third exam by Hokage-sama. Everyone listen well!"

The Hokage moved forward cleared his throat. "Yes. The third exam will begin. But, before the explanation, there's one thing I want to make clear for all of you. It's about the true purpose of this exam." The man paused for effect. "Why we do a joint exam with the allied nations. 'To maintain good relations with the allied nations' and 'Heighten the level of ninja'... Do not let those reasons deceive you. This 'exam', so to speak, is the epitome of war between the allied nations."

The slight raising of Naruto's eyebrows indicted his surprise. One of the other Genins took the rude approached and asked, "What do you mean?" Naruto glared at the person for disrespecting the Hokage.

"If we go back through history, the allied nations right now were neighbouring countries that fought each other over and over again. To avoid wasting military power, these countries decided to chose a place to fight... That is the beginning of the Chuunin selection exam."

"Why do we have to do that?!" another kid yelled out. Naruto wanted to destroy the pair. "We're not doing this to become Chuunins?"

"Yes, this exam does examine those who are worthy of the Chuunin title. But, on the other hand, it's also a place where ninja can fight and carry their countries dignity. In this third exam, feudal lords and famous people from various countries who may be potential clients are invited here as guests, and feudal lords from countries with hidden villages and ninja leaders will see your battles. If there's a significant difference in power, the strong countries will be flooded with jobs. If a country is seen as weak, they will lose jobs and their economy will greatly decrease. And, at the same time, the countries are able to show how their village has grown and possess excellent military power to the adjacent countries. They can put pressure on them." The man let the information sink in before continuing.

"A countries power is a village's power. A village's power is the ninja's power. A true ninja's true power is only born in life-or-death battle. This exam also shows the power of the country. As this exam is where you put your life on the line, it has a meaning and your predecessors have fought and dreamed of being in the Chuunin exams because of it. The custom of saving one's life and fighting to maintain balance... That is the good relation in the world of the ninja. This is a life-or-death battle for your countries dignity."

"I don't care. Tell me the details of the life-or-death situation, old man." Zaku spoke up. Naruto snarled, almost inaudibly, and fixed him with a poisonous glare. The Genin had the nerve to smirk and it was only the Hokage speaking that stopped Naruto from beating the boy to a bloody pulp. _No one speaks to my grandad like that except me!_

"Then I will now begin the details of the third exam, but..."

A man appeared in front the Hokage, head bowed. "Excuse me, Hokage-sama. Allow me, Gekkō Hayate, the proctor to explain."

"Please do." the Hokage replied, stepping back.

"Everyone, it is nice to meet you. Before the third exam, there is something I want you to do." The man coughed. "You need to- eh... Fight in some preliminary matches to see who gets to advance to the third exam's main battle."

"Preliminary matches? What do you mean?" Shikamaru yelled.

"Sensei, I don't understand what you mean by preliminary matches." Ino continued. "Why can't we just start the third exam with the remaining examinees?"

"Urgh. In this case, it must have been because the first and second exam were too easy, I don't know... But there are too many examinees left. According to the Chuunin regulations, we must decrease the number of participants for the third exam."

"Oh, no!" Ino gasped.

"As previously mentioned by Hokage-sama, there are many guests for the third exam, so... We cannot have a lot of matches. We are limited on time, as well. So, those who are feeling unwell... Please quit after hearing the explanation. The preliminary matches will begin immediately. You will have one-on-one matches from here on out, so please withdraw if you wish."

Kabuto raised his hand. "I'll quit."

Naruto recoiled at the scent of snake. _Orochimaru? No, he must just be an accomplice!_

"Eh... Yakushi Kabuto, yes? You may leave."

Kabuto nodded and left. Some people watched him go but Naruto was in a frenzy. If his accomplice had left, there was two other teammates and a... _Sensei_!

Naruto swirled to glare at the Sound teacher who rose one mocking eyebrow. Anko noticed his discomfort and looked at the man from the corner of her eye. She alerted Kakashi one-handedly, signalling "Teacher" "Sound" "Snake" "Seal". Kakashi made his own seals, making them visible for the Hokage. "Right" "Side" "Snake" "Teacher" "Sannin".

The Hokage's eyes widened before a calmness over took him. Orochimaru wouldn't try anything now, but... Later, he might.

"May I assume that there are no others who wish to quit?" Hayate coughed out. Nobody responded so he nodded weakly. "Then, let's begin the preliminary exams. It will be a one-on-one match; it will be like real combat. Now that we have exactly twenty people, we will have ten matches and the winners will be able to advance to the third round. There are no rules. You will fight until the other person is knocked out, dies or gives up. If you do not want to die, give up immediately. However, if I judge that the match is over, I may stop you to prevent any unnecessary deaths. The thing that will hold your destiny is..."

The man looked at Anko who nodded, saying "Open it." into her mouth piece.

"This. This electric bulletin board will randomly display the names of two fighters for each match. Without further ado, I will display the names for the first match."

The Genin all stared in anticipation and excitement. The bulletin flicked through many names at a rapid speed before stopping on Akadou Yoroi and Uchiha Sasuke.

Sasuke smirked. Naruto grabbed his hands and pressed hard. "I'll hit you if you fail, _ttebayo_!"

"Those whose names were displayed, step up." Sasuke walked to the front with confidence, knowing he had no visible scratches or marks on him and the curse seal was firmly under wraps. "The first match's fighters are Akadou Yoroi and Uchiha Sasuke. Are there any objections?"

"No!" Sasuke and Akadou chorused, sharing death glares. Sakura watched Sasuke carefully, looking for signs of pain. Finding none, she sighed, relieved.

"We will now begin the first match. Everyone other than the fighters, move up to the stands."

The Genins moved quickly, eager for the fight. Naruto and Sakura went to sit with Gaara and his siblings, feeling Kakashi appear behind them.

"Yo'!" Kakashi greeted. "Hey, are you Gaara?"

Gaara nodded blankly, wrapping a possessive hand around Naruto's small hands. Kakashi watched in confusion but internally shrugged.

"I want to thank you for saving my kids out there." _What is your motive?_

"I saved Naruto." _None of your damn business._

Sasuke watched his opponent, leaping into action the moment Akadou twitched. He slammed his knee into the man's head in a blue blur to even Naruto's eyes. Akadou didn't know what hit him...

Repeatedly. In the head, in the shoulders, on his knees... The man was in _agony_.

"Proctor, I give up!" the man yelped, not before getting blasted with a well-placed _Katon: Ryūka no Jutsu_.

Hayate coughed, waving away the smoke and sighing. "Kids today are so hot headed! Winner, Uchiha Sasuke."

Sasuke hadn't even activated his Sharingan.

"Next match is..." The bulletin board flicked through names before settling on, "Aburame Shino and Zaku Abumi." Sasuke left the area, moving next to Sakura and leaning against the wall.

Zaku scoffed. "Which weakling am I against?"

Shino stiffened. "Fighters, step down." Shino leapt down and bent his knees slightly, so that the impact didn't bother him.

Zaku jumped down and barely just landed on his feet, smirking cockily anyway. Hayate called them closer and they both began to leak killer intent. Hayate shook his head and muttered, "Next match is going to begin."

"If you fight me here, you will never be able to fight again." Shino warned. "Retire."

Zaku laughed and began to move his left arm. "This one moves somehow..." He removed the arm from the sling and crouched low, preparing to attack. "That's all it'll take!"

Zaku ran and attempted a jab at Shino's face, Shino blocking it effortlessly. "You can't beat me with just one arm."

"Stop talking back!" Zaku yelled, powering chakra through his right arm. "Take this! _Zankūha_!"

Shino stumbled away and air bowled him off of his feet.

Kiba let out a slight yell in the stands as Shino didn't stand up.

"Come on, stand up!" Zaku goaded. He couldn't see him because the smoke covered him, but he was certain that had been enough.

Something shifted in the smoke and a pure black figure stood up; there was no face definition, there was no cloak... "What?" Zaku stammered, taking a step back. _What is he?! _Before Zaku's eyes, Shino took form. His face regained it's previous features, but there was a clicking sound in the air. _Bugs?_ Zaku took a frantic look to the side, copying those in the stands. Where was the noise coming-

Zaku's eyes landed on Shino again; the bugs were crawling all over him! He narrowed his eyes and noticed there was a small hole in Shino's face where the bugs were leaving from, but the bugs were coming from everywhere- _They're coming out from his skin... They're coming out of his body? _"What kind of trick are you trying to pull, you freak?"

He heard the bugs again, louder this time... _Behind?! _

Zaku turned his head ever so slightly before he flinched at the sight of thousands upon thousands of insects crawling towards him. He couldn't move. He was petrified... "These little guys are called _Kikai bugs_. They attack their prey in groups and consume its chakra." Zaku began to frantically stomp at the little bugs, but where others fell, more appeared. "If I attack you with this many, you will never be able to fight again. If you don't want to have that fate, give up. It is recommended. If you use that move with your left hand, the bugs will attack you from behind. If you use that move on the bugs, I will _kill_ you. Either way, you cannot get out of this situation."

Zaku shut his eyes and thought. He wanted to impress Orochimaru, the one who had accepted him and made him strong, but...

"I give up." Zaku snarled out, looking at Shino with furious eyes.

Hayate coughed wetly before saying, loud and clear, "Aburame Shino is the winner of match two."

Neji silently activated his Byakugan and barely covered his gasp of surprise. The bugs lived _within _him?!

The bulletin flashed through names again before settling on, "Kankuro and Tsurugu Misumi."

Gaara's brother smirked and walked down the stairs. Sasuke tuned the fight out and focussed on Sakura. "Who do you not want to fight?"

Sakura shrugged before whispering, "Ino. I think I'll have to go to _Mind _again and she'll only make it worse."

"Why do you think you'll need to go back?" Naruto asked her quietly, listening to their conversation intently. Gaara looked murderously at the pair and looked at the fight in disgust.

Kakashi frowned and filed the information away, sliding down the wall to join in his kid's conversation. "_Uchi no Naru _is back."

Naruto cocked his head. "What's that?"

Sakura twirled her fingers before replying. "It's like a split personality. It says the stuff I think and sometimes it gets strong and I get verbal diarrhoea. _Mind _have been attempting to join us together, which is why my moods have been up and down. I can't control it-"

"Come on, Forehead girl!" Ino cajoled, standing in the fighting area. Sakura paled and looked at the bulletin.

_Haruno Sakura_

_vs._

_Yamanaka Ino_

Sakura visibly flinched and Sasuke helped her up, pressing a tiny kiss to her chin before sending her down the stairs. Sakura forced away her tears and tried to push away her Inner self. "You still wear your hitai-ate around your waist, huh? Do you realise how wrong that is?" Sakura began her tirade, forcing on a brave front. "You're wearing it as if it's a belt, a fashion accessory. All it does is make you seem weak! If you're serious about being a kunoichi, a Chuunin, I refuse to fight you with it around your waist."

Ino flushed angrily. "Just because-"

With Ino too preoccupied on replying, Sakura attacked. She disappeared on the spot and slammed her fist into the blonde girl's left arm, before twisting and slamming her left leg into Ino's right one. Ino howled in pain and vainly attempted to attack the seemingly invisible Sakura, but it was pointless. Where Ino had been maintaining her diet, making her a measly seventy four pounds at 4'7ft, Sakura had been getting stronger and stronger at a healthy weight. "How are you strong?" Ino gasped, panting, looking around her wildly.

"I trained. Where you were concerned with being pretty, I _worked my ass off _trying to get stronger! You're weak, Ino. Look at you. You barely know any of your clan techniques, either. Get up."

Ino grit her teeth and pushed herself onto unsteady legs, only for her hair to be sliced off at the band and her hitai-ate threw at the wall. The metal cracked while the wall now had a decent-sized crater in it. "You don't deserve to be a kunoichi, Ino." Sakura spat, bringing her foot down onto Ino's knee and breaking it clean with a sharp tap.

Ino screeched in pain, writhing on the floor. Inner Sakura smirked in triumph. "Proctor-"

Sakura broke her other knee cap, before roughly dislocating her shoulders. "I give-!" Ino wailed. Sakura smirked in glee and attempted to snap Ino's arms like a twig-

"Sakura." Sasuke's voice brought her out of her red-zone and she stopped, paling. She'd just hurt her best friend, probably irreparably-

"Proctor, I give u-up-" Ino hiccuped, flinching away from Sakura. The pink haired girl ignored Ino and set her shoulders, focussing on her chakra control. Her hands began to glow a bright green.

"Winner is Haruno Sakura!" Hayate called, waving a dismissive hand at the medics.

"I'm so sorry, Ino..." Sakura whispered, placing her hands on the girls knee and fixing the bone. She did the same to the next one, before shifting her attention to the shoulders.

"I'm sorry too Sakura-" Ino coughed weakly, a thin stream of saliva spat into her own hair and tears leaking out of her eyes. "I didn't know this meant so much to you. But Sasuke is still mine." Ino smiled at Sakura, through the pain and the tears, attempting to make a joke.

Sakura smiled back, before roughly pulling the girls arm and relocating the shoulder. Ino screeched before Sakura removed the pain in that shoulder. "Give me some damn warning! How did you get so good at this, Sakura?"

"I realised there was no point in trailing after Sasuke and expecting everyone to protect me. I wanted to protect myself."

Ino's eyes clouded and the blonde girl nodded, expecting the pain this time and only crying out a tiny bit. "We must look so stupid, ah?"

Sakura grinned and shook her head. "I don't care, _Ino-pig_."

"Fuck you-!" Ino began, a furious blush on her face. Sakura laughed and stood up, holding out a hand to the girl. Ino took it gratefully and the pair began the slow trek up the stairs. Ino felt wobbly and sick, while Sakura just felt sick.

They began to talk in hushed whispers, talking about their experiences while Ino attempted to apologise for everything she'd said. They missed the next fight but didn't care; it was between the Suna female Genin and Tenten. Tenten had lost to Temari's wind skill but had put up a very decent fight.

_Naru Shikamaru_

_vs._

_Kin Tsuchi_

Ino watched in bemusement as Shikamaru knocked the girl unconscious using his shadows. "Winner, Nara Shikamaru."

"Shikamaru has gotten better since the academy, huh?" Sakura mused. "He could only use basic shadow manipulation in the academy."

"We've all been training under our fathers, watching their team fighting and the skills they used." Ino explained, shrugging her shoulders. "We've all gotten better, just not good enough."

Sakura hummed and watched the bulletin flick through names.

_Uzumaki Naruto_

_vs._

_Inuzuka Kiba_

Sakura snorted rudely and looked at Naruto in amusement. Kiba didn't like him... at all. Gaara wished him luck and Sasuke placed a possessive hand on Naruto's leg, smiling warmly at him through the bandages. Gaara's eyes narrowed in distrust and Kakashi shook his head. Gaara liked Naruto but he was being odd about it. "Destroy him, brat, otherwise Kurenai will never let me live it down."

Naruto grinned and shot down the stairs. He was eager to show how much better he'd gotten. "Better give up now, dog-breath!" Naruto goaded.

"Begin." Hayate coughed. He was bored of all of the mindless talk-

Naruto removed both of his fans and revealed the design. One had an image of a pure white fox with nine tails, while the other was of a dark red fox with nine tails. Hayate coughed again to cover his amusement. The kid wasn't ashamed of being the Kyuubi's container, but did he have to show it in such a way?

Kiba snarled and shot at Naruto, ignoring the fans. Kyuubi, inside, powered his chakra through Naruto's left arm and Naruto shot a small burst of lethal, demonic-laced wind at Kiba. Kiba ploughed on and yelped in pain as his face began to burn.

Akamaru barked in worry. "Don't worry, Akamaru-" Kiba attempted to soothe, before flinching as he heard a small poof of smoke behind him.

Akamaru barely dodged to side as the tiny fox shot at him. Naruto smirked and waved his fans again, leaping into the air and resting on the wind. Kiba looked furiously between his pup and his opponent.

"In a real battle, Kiba, you should be concerned about _yourself_!" Naruto roared and jumped off the wind, flicking his fans closed and swinging the blunt ends into Kiba's back. The boy was flung into the ground, while Akamaru howled in pain. The fox had latched onto the nin-dog's neck and drew blood.

The fox disappeared in a poof of smoke as Kiba threw a blunt kunai at it. Naruto's eyes narrowed until they were slight slits. He copied the boys movement and shot a sharp, shining kunai into Akamaru's side.

The dog howled louder as it pierced the flesh. Kiba grit his teeth and looked between his dog and the opponent. His instincts were telling him to get Akamaru and run, but he could feel shame rise in him at the thought of losing to the dead-last. He bit his thumb roughly and stooped low into a crouch. He shuffled along the floor to Akamaru and bandaged him up, feeding him a soldier pill. His instincts barely gave him a warning as he scooped Akamaru up into his arms and shot to the side in a spin. He gazed in slight awe at the crater Naruto had made using the steel fans. _When did you become so strong?_

Kiba lurched to the side again as Naruto aimed a low kick where he previously sat. He flinched as he felt the aftermath- Naruto had just created a large crater, smaller than the one Sakura had created by throwing Ino's headband, but still large- and it was only his Inuzuka instincts that saved him.

Naruto smiled grimly at the shocked boy. "Give up, Kiba. You're only hurting Akamaru like this."

Kiba snarled and flung himself at the boy, bringing his heavy fists onto what he assumed was Naruto. When the body turned into water beneath him, he snarled louder and looked around. He was angry.

He removed several smoke bombs from his pocket and set them all off. The bottom arena was filled with smoke.

The proctors watched as a blond-haired boy shot out of the smoke and onto the higher parts of the arena. Naruto grimaced at the sight. Kiba was whirling around in the smoke, that much he could tell. He slid his fans open and muttered, "_Fūton: Shinkū Renpa_." The technique was typically meant to use air from the lungs that bonded with the wind around the person, but he struggled with that. His lung capacity was small, weakened from the attacks when he was younger. Fugaku attempted to stop the attacks but the damage had already been done; starvation from his brief time in the orphanage and the matron gaining most of her drug-money for the "Beat the Demon" sessions had ruined his body beyond what Kurama could heal.

He focussed on the wind and directed it to the mass of smoke; the blades of wind hacked away at both the thick smoke and Kiba. Akamaru had been pushed to the furthest corner of the room.

Kiba howled as a small part of the wind created a deep wound into his legs and arms. "I give up!" the boy roared and collapsed to the floor. Naruto leapt down from his position and watched the boy in grim amusement. He was weak.

Kurenai let out a small gasp of surprise. She was smug that Shino had won his fight and she thought she _knew _Kiba would win- but Kakashi's brat had made her boy bleed. She turned fuming crimson eyes onto the boy, only to find him smirking at her cockily. He gave her a two-fingered salute and walked up to the stands.

Kurenai took a tiny step back. _This _was the demon container? Strong, ruthless against his own village? _Does Hokage-sama really think he's trustworthy?! _Kurenai glanced at the old man, only to see him watch Naruto with a look of proud in his brown eyes. Kurenai took another step back.

Kakashi gave the boy a proud little smile and ruffled his hair. "Well done, kid."

Sasuke gave him a haughty look. "Thought you would do better than that." Sasuke gave Naruto one of his special smiles. "We're all in the final! We're fucking fantastic!"

Kakashi's visible eye twitched slightly and he brought Icha Icha down on Sasuke's head. "No swearing, kid!"

Sakura laughed and gave Naruto a hug. "Well done, Naruto! Did you have to be so hard on Akamaru, though?"

Naruto grinned weakly and shook his head. "I-In a proper fight, see, Akamaru would have been the first to go and Kiba would be distracted so really, I'm just pushing him to train his dog better!"

Ino gave him the smallest of smiles, but the effect was ruined by the angry gleam in her eyes. _You're the reason why Sakura has changed so much!_

Naruto paid no attention to the rest of the fights, only barely tuning into Hinata's and Neji's to give the girl a slight confidence boost. She fought with renewed vigour and managed to get a deep slice into Neji's abdomen using Sakura's sword before he was restrained from hitting her in the chest by the numerous of teachers in the room._  
_

Naruto hummed thoughtfully and vowed that, if he won his matches and had to fight Neji, he would give him a taste of his own medicine. Naruto knew all about the branch curse seal and he also knew that Hinata could have easily used it against Neji, but didn't. She was the Hyuuga heiress, but probably not for long. She'd lost to a branch member.

He shrugged and watched Gaara's fight in sickened bemusement. Gaara was ruthless. "_Kyuubi, can you force Shukaku to stop Gaara? Lee is ready to drop but he won't give up._"

The Kyuubi shifted and Gaara stopped, startled. His eyes widened and he flung Lee into the wall, clutching his head in pain. "Winner, Sabaku no Gaara," Hayate announced. "Next fight, Dosu Kinuta and Akimichi Chouji."

Naruto watched in disappointment as Chouji was flung around like a rag-doll. Didn't Ojiisan's kid know how to train his students?

"Will the victors please come down here?" Hayate asked politely, pulling out ten scrolls from his kunai pouch. The Genin's lined up in a line; Sakura, Sasuke, Naruto, Gaara, Temari, Kankuro, Shikamaru, Shino, Neji and Dosu remained. "You ten are in the third exam. Congratulations."

Naruto nodded and settled in his stance. "You will, in a month's time, be pitted against one of your fellow Genin standing here. You will fight until someone gives up, death or knock-out. It will be set in the Stadium south of the village at 10:00am sharp. If you are late, you are disqualified. Now, pink one, come forward and take a scroll of your choice. They are not in order. These determine who you fight and what time you fight."

Sakura grit her teeth and removed the scroll numbered "3". Sasuke came forward and took the scroll numbered "9". Naruto stepped forward and got the scroll numbered "1". Gaara got the scroll labelled "10", Temari got "5" and Kankuro got "7". That meant that Gaara was against Sasuke.

Shikamaru got the scroll labelled "6" and the boy audibly groaned. "Great, another woman."

Temari bristled at the insult and huffed, crossing her arms. Shino got the scroll labelled "8" and Neji got the scroll labelled "2". Naruto smirked beneath his mask. He was going to have so much fun! _  
_

Sakura was against Dosu, to her annoyance. She had no idea how to desensitise herself to sound; she could take hits, have her chakra points closed, deal with wind... Sound?

How was she going to do this?

* * *

"Congratulations!" Kakashi beamed, clapping his hands together. "You all passed the first and second exams!"

Naruto hugged the man around the waist and laughed loudly, looking up in adoration. "Are you training us for the third exam or are we going to separate?"

"As Sasuke has activated his Sharingan, I'm going to be training him. Sakura, I've asked for Mitarashi Anko and Gai to train you. Neji has already requested that he be trained by his clan, so Gai will be helping you with your speed and strength in the mornings while Anko teaches you precision and the arts of seduction to subdue the enemy." Kakashi handed the pink haired girl a tiny set of ear plugs. "You'll need to control your chakra with these until you can block out his sound attacks while still maintaining typical sensory action."

Sakura nodded and smiled softly. "Naruto, I've got two special people to train you." Kakashi pointed down the street, to Zabuza and Haku. The pair waved with similar expressions on their faces. "Haku will train your speed and help you with your hand seals; you lag behind Sakura and Sasuke in the formation part, so Haku is going to speed it up while attempting to help you with one-handed hand seals. It's not easy." Kakashi waved the pair over, mindful of the glares they were receiving. "Zabuza will help with overall strength while helping you fully master your control over water. He's also going to teach you the Silent Killing technique; as the mist is imbued in chakra, the Byakugan is rendered useless. I'm going to assume that Kurama is going to teach you, too?"

Naruto nodded silently, giving Zabuza and Haku a blinding smile. "Well. Let's go eat, then the training begins!" Zabuza sniggered, clapping Sasuke on the back.

* * *

**I'm sorry that this is so late, bah. I've been on holiday with one of my friends and didn't take my laptop. On (Friday) the 17th, I'm going on holiday with another one of my friends for three days so you shouldn't be waiting as long for a chapter. xD**

**I'm used to writing chapters of 5000-6000 words so anything above 10000 words is a massive struggle for me, which results in chapters being rushed and messy. I just worry that people will skim over my story if it isn't long. Dx**


	4. Third Exam

**Difference**

* * *

**I'm going to delve into Naruto's past in this chapter, to help clear up any confusion in his upbringing. He was alone until aged two-three, where he was then taken into the care of the Uchiha.**

**Orochimaru hasn't left yet. There are OC's in this chapter, but they are _not _important. You don't have to remember names, because they'll only be mentioned once or twice in the story.**

**ALSO. Kurama is just... not right. Dx I'm not sure how to portray him, though. **

* * *

Naruto let out the tiniest of screams, barely audible over the sounds of slaps, punches and the occasionally snigger. He was only a child- why were they hurting him? What had he done?

"Fucking demon scum!" one of the men roared, removing a bottle of sake from his vest and taking a deep swig, ignoring the burning sensation. He grinned maliciously at the tiny little boy before tipping the bottle over his bleeding skin.

Naruto's blue eyes rolled back in his head and the two year old fainted, recessing deep into the bowels of his mind. He toddled along the sewers, happy that it didn't hurt to move or blink. "Hulo?" he called loudly, looking behind him in curiosity.

"**K-keep going forward**!" something shouted to him and Naruto grinned happily, running on his tiny legs to the source of the sound.

He gasped in awe at the large space, eyeing the pipes and the massive cage at the very edge of his conscious. "**Kid, just- let me do this-**"

The massive fox appeared at the gates, the water turning a vicious red. Naruto vaguely heard people screaming but paid no attention to it- it was probably him. "Hu' 'r' yu'?" Naruto grinned toothily at the fox, stepping closer and closer until he was in the cage.

"**I'm Kurama.**" The massive fox gazed down at his container in a slight hint of disgust. It wasn't aimed at the boy; the boy was developing fine for his age, slightly small but fine, with huge cerulean eyes and a messy mop of golden hair. It was aimed at the people who'd thickened the scars on the boys face, broken his ribs until his lungs were damaged beyond _typical_ repair, snapped his legs at the kneecaps and broken his tiny feet- it sickened the demon. All because the boy was the son to the Yondaime, the container of the Kyuubi. "**And you're Uzumaki Naruto**."

Mito wasn't treated so disgustingly, even though it was her massive skill that had enabled the strongest of all demons to be sealed. She was feared for her ability to seal he being away, but not for being the container. _It was probably the Senju's influence, too._ Kushina had been treated cruelly, but she wasn't beaten. Slowly, the people of Konoha warmed to her, especially since she was from Uzushiogakure. _Why don't the villagers realise they're hurting someone distantly related to the First Hokage?_

Naruto watched the fox nervously, before deciding to sit on the fox's tail. It was better than sitting in murky water. Kurama withheld the lurch and watched the little boy in amusement.

Naruto giggled softly as he clambered up the tail, sticking to it like a monkey to a branch. "Why 'r' yu' her', Kurahmah?" Naruto asked curiously, peering around the fox's form to look the fox in the face. The fox gave out a gruff laugh.

"**You, kid, are my container. Your mother, Uzumaki Kushina, was my previous container to you. She was impregnated by the Fourth Hokage and you were made. When your mother finally gave birth, a man, Uchiha Madara, attacked in her weakness and managed to weaken the seal keeping me bound and I revelled in the freedom, before she summoned your father to take me down. I was rampaging, destroying the village and then I quickly realised I was going to be sealed away again. I tried to destroy you but your parents blocked me.**" Naruto looked up at the fox with widened eyes, not comprehending the things the fox was saying but the way the fox's voice changed enthralled him. He felt like someone was telling him a story! "**Your mother restrained me using her incredible chakra chains and your father sealed me away. He sealed a part of himself and Kushina in, as well. You will meet them soon, I expect.**" Naruto nodded eagerly.

"T'en?" Naruto prodded, climbing onto the fox's huge back and running the fox's head.

"**Then, what? I'm done!**" The Kyuubi chortled, standing up and turning around in the cage. "**Could you change this landscape, please?**"

Naruto giggled happily and clapped his hands together, imagining being in a warm home while the snow fell outside. Kyuubi watched in slight awe as the mindscape around him changed into the village, snow falling thickly from the sky but it wasn't cold. He whistled lowly in pride before stiffening. "**Kit, if you ever want to speak to me, just relax and enter your mind. Someone is coming to help you.**"

Kyuubi watched as the boy flickered away and gave a grim smile. The boy had a tough time in front of him. He shifted and settled down, confined by a... house? It was warm and comfy, so he slid his eyes shut and did what he did best. Slept.

Naruto weakly opened his eyes to frantic running and shouted orders. "-Seal is- breaking!" someone exclaimed. Naruto felt stuffy and weak, the arms around him too tight and they hurt his existing wounds. He flailed before biting the exposed arm in fear, landing on all fours.

He blinked ruby eyes at his ojiisan, cracking his back and standing onto two legs. "Ojiisan?" he asked sleepily, rubbing his eyes. "Was' goin' on?" The boy let out a jaw-splitting yawn and he held out expectant arms to the shocked man. "Up!"

The Hokage shook his head and picked the boy up at arms length, eyeing the extended scars on his face and the black rimmed ruby eyes. The boy was covered in a slightly lethal chakra shroud but he trusted Naruto not to harm him.

Naruto grinned and threw his arms around the man's neck. He nuzzled into the man's neck and settled down, the chakra shroud fading into the boy's own chakra. "Am I gon' be ok'?"

The Hokage squeezed the boy and nodded, not trusting his voice. He was petrified the moment he felt the massive spike of demonic chakra. The first thought that ran through his mind was, _Is Naruto okay? _The man had ordered his shinobi to guard the orphanage and had his best four shinobi around him; Uchiha Satsui, Hatake Kakashi, Morino Ibiki and Uchiha Shimi.

* * *

The stench of childish fear, bloodlust and Naruto's blood made Kakashi's nose wrinkle and he stormed ahead, his _Chidori _blazing in his left hand. He destroyed the door and slammed his left hand into the wall. Naruto lay in a steel crib, with a cheap dog's bed hurriedly pushed into the bottom of the crib. Naruto lay in the middle, covered in blood, his legs bent at an odd angle and thick slits over both of his eyes. Bodies lay decimated around the crib, faces left but the bodies destroyed. Kakashi refused to take a step further, the demonic chakra so disgustingly familiar that he felt sick. The boy was covered in the chakra, the chakra fully visible and creating a chakra shroud. Naruto's face was scrunched up in agony and the chakra shroud grew larger, a tail beginning to form.

The others had finally reached him, all stopped at the sight. "Naruto..." The Hokage shook his head and stepped into the room, releasing his own tightly-held chakra and refusing to allow the shroud deter him. He picked the boy's body up gently and felt for a pulse.

"Shimi, take him to the hospital." The Hokage pressed the broken body into the shell-shocked boy's arms and the boy tightened his grip, disappearing in a plume of smoke.

His fury was tangible when the hospital refused to help him, so he chose the next-best option. He went to the Sannin.

They were all preparing to leave; the village had nothing left for them to feel happy and so they were leaving. Tsunade was currently having her last drink with her two teammates.

"Tsunade-sama!" Shimi called out, rushing into the small, dainty bar. "Jiraiya-sama-!"

Jiraiya had already sensed the demonic chakra and had a suppression seal ready. He slammed it onto the little boys head and his eyes widened when the seal didn't take affect. "I can't do anything when he's in this state-"

Tsunade stammered, the sight of the blood-

Orochimaru slapped the woman once, twice, three times before roughly pushing her towards the little boy. Naruto let out a tiny whimper of pain and Tsunade nodded roughly, pursing her lips. She placed her hands onto his head and chest pumping him full of green chakra. Naruto shrieked in pain. Orochimaru grimaced and pulled Tsunade back, placing a hand onto the boys chest and soothing the rampant chakra. Orochimaru nodded once at his team and Sarutobi before leaving.

Naruto whimpered again and twisted his body, slicing his elongated fangs into Shimi's arm. Shimi let out a foul curse and let him go. "Is the seal breaking?"

"The seal isn't breaking!" Jiraiya exclaimed gruffly, kneeling down and lifting the boys shirt up. Naruto moaned and slowly moved into all-fours. Jiraiya watched as the seal twisted around the boy's navel before it froze, swirling the other way before settling.

Naruto opened his eyes and Jiraiya was frozen to the spot. Those eyes-

Jiraiya was still frozen when Naruto was burrowing into the Hokage's robes, but he had a slight smile on his face.

* * *

The Hokage gave the council a vile look. How long had this abuse been going on? He'd had some of the civillian council check on Naruto every week, to hear the same thing. "_He's fine, Hokage-sama! He has plenty of friends..._"

His eyes darkened at the thought of his grandson in any more pain. Gone was the benevolent Hokage, in his place was The Professor. "Today, I felt a spike of the Kyuubi's chakra. It was in turmoil, screaming for help, causing no harm... Why?"

The council shifted. The council consisted of the Clan heads; Hyuuga Hiashi, Uchiha Fugaku, Nara Shikaku, Akimichi Choza, Aburame Shinto, Inuzuka Tsume, Yamanaka Inochi and Sarutobi Asuma. As Hiruzen was the Hokage, he could not speak on the behalf of the Sarutobi clan. The council also consisted of the Civilian heads; Haruno Hiromitsu, Kobayashi Yuri, Sato Jun, Kimura Kai, Takahashi Chi, Shimizu Takuto, Bokusatsu Akane and Nakamura Akihiko. The rest of the room was made up of Danzo, Mitokado Homura and Utatane Koharu. Hiruzen watched them all with unforgiving eyes.

"The demon was trying to heal its host while attempting to save his life."

Outrage appeared in the Shinobi clan heads. They'd all, at some point, come into contact with the tiny, bright little boy who contained the demon and assumed that he was treated well. He was too small, but... How could they miss the signs?

The Civilian heads were mixed. Bokusatsu Akane and Nakamura Akihiko showed disgust at the thought of the fox, but they were also upset by the news. They were greatly affected by the Kyuubi attack, losing any of their family to the demon. Whenever Naruto was mentioned, they were his biggest defenders and were ready to cuss out anyone who wrongly assumed he was the demon in disguise. Haruno Hiromitsu looked slightly disturbed by the news; he had a daughter, Sakura, the same age as the host and his parental instincts were going into haywire. Kobayashi Yuri looked very sad by the news; she'd lost _everyone _in the attack, as her family stayed on the outskirts of Konoha where the fox attacked. She had barely escaped with her life, but she'd lost her brothers, sisters, sons and daughters in the attack. She hated the thought that Naruto was being treated in such a way, when he was the person who kept the fox at bay. She had lost her son, who was only slightly older than Naruto is now when he died. "What happened?" Yuri asked carefully, knowing that the other civilian clans were amused by the boys pain and actively encouraged it.

Akane, Akihiko, Hiromitsu and Yuri all shared looks. They were going to look out, in future, for any sign of discomfort the boy would show or anger that the village would show.

"Uzumaki Naruto was kept in a small, nondescript orphanage which I wrongly assumed would care for him. He was kept in a large room, with white washed walls and nothing else. He was forced to sleep on a cheap dogs bed, shoved into a metal crib that acted like a cage. He was starved, beaten and emotionally neglected. I also have knowledge of people paying the matron to abuse the boy."

Yuri took in a deep intake of breath and her hands curled into fists. He was only a toddler. Inuzuka Tsume let out a tiny snarl, but it was full of anguish and disgust. Kiba was the same age as Naruto; she imagined her little boy in Naruto's place and barely managed to restrain herself. Uchiha Fugaku narrowed his eyes.

"How could you let the Fourth's legacy suffer like this?" The Professor asked carefully.

"He's a damn _demon_, don't tarnish the Fourth's name in such a way-" Kimura Kai began, his green eyes flashing in fury.

The Professor shot him a cold look and Kai was pinned to the spot. _What?_ Kai shook his head and opened his mouth to spew more rubbish, but he couldn't move his jaw. Fear began to creep up his spine. "That _demon _is a two year old boy." Akane began angrily, slamming his hands onto the round table. His amber eyes looked terrifying to the frozen man.

"The Fourth Hokage used the boy as a damn sacrifice to save your fucking life!" Tsume joined in. "What if he hadn't, eh?"

"Would you be so ready to treat the boy as an animal?" Fugaku added. "If it was your son? If it was your nephew chosen? Chosen to restrain the strongest of _all _demons, at the sake of their childhood, of their innocence?"

The Professor looked confused by this turn of events. He had wrongly assumed that everyone harboured some slight hatred of the boy... But here they were.

* * *

Itachi tickled the little blond boy's stomach, smiling slightly when he began to squeal and giggle. "Wa-!"

Shisui grinned and took the happy little boy out of Itachi's arms, throwing him into the air and catching him again, starting to run around the walls with him. "'Am flyin'!" Naruto shrieked in glee, holding out his arms to act as a bird.

Fugaku watched the proceedings carefully and made his decision. He would adopt the boy.

Unsurprisingly, the civilian woman, Yuri, had offered to adopt him but Hiashi had shot her down. "_What if he lost control?_"

Fugaku had sneered at the Hyuuga head and gave the woman a small frown. "_I would like to see him._" The Hokage had led him here. "I will adopt him." Fugaku told the Hokage bluntly, stepping into the room. He stopped Shisui with a cold stare and took the blond boy out of his arms. "Naruto."

The blond boy stopped giggling and watched him solemnly. "Would you like to come home with me?"

Naruto wrinkled his nose and looked at the dark eyes, dark hair and pale skin before nodding. He looked like Itachi and Shisui, so he must be trustworthy. "Du' yu' have a fa'mee'le?"

Fugaku smiled slightly. "I have a son, Itachi," Fugaku twisted his arms so that Naruto got a clear look at Itachi, before turning the boy back to him. "And another little boy, Sasuke. He's your age. I have a wife, Mikoto, and then there's all the cousins, like Shisui..."

Naruto listened eagerly, nodding at appropriate times. "I have a fa'mee'le too!" the little boy exclaimed. "Anko an' Ibi an' Kitty an' Teu an' Aya' an Ojiisan!" Naruto chirped happily, wriggling around in the man's arms before leaping forward to wrap tiny arms around the man's neck. "An' now I hav' a papa!"

Fugaku nodded and locked his arms around the little boy.

* * *

Naruto had settled into the Uchiha compound fairly well; Mikoto had showered him with affection and taught him how to walk on two legs, got rid of the foul accent and had taught him how to read and write. Sasuke was slightly jealous but he had adapted to having Naruto around, sharing his blocks and they even shared a crib until they reached age three. It wasn't that Mikoto was babying them, she was just concerned about her own son falling out of bed and she was worried about Kushina's son associating cribs to be a bad thing.

They shared a room until they were aged five, before Sasuke demanded his independence. Naruto had frowned sadly but agreed, before polluting the village with laxatives. Naruto stayed in the room next to Itachi and across from Sasuke, deciding to have it painted white with a sky-blue border and blue room, before Mikoto took it on herself to replace one wall with all windows, booby-trapped and supposedly unbreakable. She'd tested the glass herself, before asking the Hokage himself to attempt to break it. He managed to destroy a part of it after slamming a fire-encased sword into the weakest part of the glass. The sword went through but the glass didn't shatter.

Sasuke also made sure his room was closest to his parents. His room was painted green, with normal windows and a hidden panic room beneath the floor. He had to tap a seal on the wall and the floor would open beneath him. He kept his valuables in there, like little slips of money that Itachi snuck him, or his stuffed dinosaur to help in case of an emergency.

On Naruto's sixth birthday, the village became worse as a whole. Naruto was found, strapped to a wooden post on the Hokage monument, burned alive. The spark of the Kyuubi's chakra had sent Fugaku over the edge and over two hundred people had been slaughtered. Naruto was not allowed out of his sight. Sasuke knew, in that instance, that something had changed.

Itachi had slaughtered the clan when Sasuke turned seven, but with Naruto around Sasuke was relatively safe. Itachi knew the seal wasn't what it used to be and he didn't want to risk death so soon.

When Sasuke had sunken into his depression, Naruto dragged him out and the pair became inseparable.

* * *

Zabuza had decided that Naruto was rightfully a genius. It didn't take him long to understand a concept and, if he didn't, he puzzled it out until it made sense.

Haku had decided that Naruto was very special, but he wasn't aware of how. He had the amazing ability to understand someone and what practices to implement to make them mentally sound. It was strange.

"Kid, you're going to carry me on your back while doing forty laps around the village." Zabuza said bluntly, ignoring the ANBU 'hidden' in the trees. "With your weights on."

Naruto grimaced and nodded, kneeling into a piggy-back position. Zabuza got on gleefully, making sure that his Kubikiribōchō made him heavier. He then tapped his lap and Haku got on, smirking.

Naruto snorted angrily and began to run, breathing heavily through his nose.

He finished his laps in roughly two hours, before dropping to the floor. "Kami-"

"Now, one thousand crunches, one hundred laps around Konoha, one thousand kicks per leg to a post and two thousand hits per arm to a post. Then, we start on your strength endurance." Zabuza demanded.

Naruto shot him a sharp glance but complied. He needed to get stronger.

It took him hours to finish, but he did. His muscles complained, Kurama was sniggering, his nerves were slightly shot, but he'd finished. Zabuza pointed to a very large boulder. "You need to move that boulder to the river, get it _over_ the river and get it back again. You have to prop it on your back."

Naruto nodded and attempted to lift the boulder using only his arms. When the boulder _didn't _shift, he narrowed his eyes and tried again. He kept trying and trying until the boulder was firmly locked in his hands and he was slowly, slowly toddling over to the river.

He needed to get stronger.

* * *

Sakura was having an awful time. Gai-sensei was a peculiar man with a few... worrisome tendencies. If he wasn't talking about youth, he was talking about the flames of youth. If he wasn't doing either... He was forcibly unconscious and drunk.

He had her do push ups, squats, leaps, dances, katas, stabs, lunges, kicks... It was slowly but surely testing her wavering patience.

"Now, Sakura-san." Gai began solemnly, sitting down on a ruined log. "I would like you to integrate chakra into everything I have just shown you."

Sakura narrowed her eyes and attempted to read his lips, but she wasn't good at it. She shook her head and said loudly, "Could you repeat that, please?" Sakura powered chakra into her ears and waited for Gai to speak.

Gai sighed and began to make a loud squealing noise with his shoes and his chakra. He repeated his sentence and Sakura nodded, hiding her wince.

By the time her time with Anko rolled around, her chakra was shot to bits and her muscles were shaking in pain. "Come on, kid. Get up."

Sakura shot the woman a weak glare and pushed herself up. "What are we doing first, Anko-sensei?" Sakura asked politely, leaning heavily on her right side.

"We're going to discuss about the arts of seduction. I can only assume that the brat has had you cover yourself up?" Anko asked, sitting down and smirking at Sakura's exasperated groan. _Why'd you make me get up, you bitch? _

"Yes. His concern is cute." Sakura replied, clipped. Her body was aching.

"He's always been like that..." Anko trailed off, musing. "But. There will come days where you can use your body to your advantage. Because of that, we're going shopping."

* * *

Sasuke wasn't having a bad time, really. Kakashi had him working his strength, stamina and speed, while helping him integrate everything into a battle. He was going to get stronger.

"Now, Sasuke. Master these jutsu," Kakashi chucked a large, blue scroll at the boy and sat down, pulling out his little orange book. "And I will teach you _Chidori_."

Sasuke grinned excitedly and got to work. He opened the scroll and saw the first one was _Katon: Gōgakyu no Jutsu_. He skipped that one, knowing it already. The next one was ___Katon: Hōsenka no Jutsu_. He nodded and dropped the scroll, spreading it around in front of him. Rat, tiger, dog, rabbit, ox, tiger. "___Katon: Hōsenka no Jutsu_!" he whispered and small bursts of flame jetted out of his mouth, reaching around 5.8m in front of him. He nodded, satisfied. He eagerly found the next technique. "_Katon: Ryūka no_ _Jutsu_," he whispered. Snake, dragon, rabbit, tiger. A long, burning stream of fire left his mouth. "That'd be better with ninja wire, eh?" Sasuke nodded to himself and carried on.

He was going to get strong.

* * *

Naruto delicately wiped a bead of sweat off of his brow and gave a tiny grin to Haku and Zabuza. The pair returned his smile and disappeared.

"**I'm going to teach you some _Shakuton_ techniques now.**" Kurama murmured. "**Go find a live animal, preferably a fish or snake.**"

Naruto nodded and got twenty different fish. "**The first one is _Shakuton: Shukketsushi_. Coat your hands in chakra and make it potent. You then visualise the body beneath you crumbling, disintegrating into the blood. All that remains is thickened blood. This allows for easy disposal and it's very quick, once you get efficient at it.**"

Naruto murmured the name of the jutsu and his hands slowly began to glow with a red shimmer. He placed his hands on the fish and shut his eyes, forcing his chakra through the body. When it began to _melt_ beneath his fingers, he opened his eyes. The fish was no more.

"Wow-!" Naruto exclaimed, grinning. He felt bad for the poor fish but... Wow!

"**The next one is _Shakuton: Sokushi_. Coat the fish in your chakra and make the ox, boar, dog, tiger symbols.**"

Naruto obeyed and grimaced when the fish burned to death within a second.

"_**Shakuton: Kitsune no Odori**_**. You create a ball of chakra that should take the form of a fox. It dances around the opponent and then destroys them slowly.**"

"_Kurama, how's the tag doing?_" Naruto asked mentally, creating the ball of chakra and moulding it.

"**The bastard is slowly but surely losing control of his arms.**" Kurama spoke proudly. "**He should be screwed by the time the third exam rolls around.**"

Naruto outwardly nodded and swept through every technique Kurama showed him, going over them again and again until he had every one down.

Kurama was curious about his containers blood. He occasionally showed signs of Kushina's _awful _chakra, but it disappeared in an instant. He also wondered if he could force the brat into developing the _Rinnegan_. He had Senju blood and Uzumaki blood in abundance, he just needed some Uchiha blood. He briefly thought of the Uchiha blood-adopting Naruto, but it would be too risky. The Namikaze blood in him would react badly and probably destroy any of the Kyuubi's hopes to having a strong brat. No, he would experiment with Naruto in the guise of improving him.

"**Kid, do you want me to modify you again? I'd expand your coils so that your chakra has more chance to expand in your body. I could also, assumingly, speed up your healing rate tenfold.**"

Naruto thought for a moment. If he was to truly become Hokage, he needed to be strong. So very strong. But... Did he want to cheat?

He hummed thoughtfully, looking at the destroyed fish. He went over the jutsu he knew and blasted each carcass (or blood stain) away. "_I'm not sure..._"

Kurama needed to sweeten the deal. "**I could also see if you have the ability to use Kushina's chakra chains...**"

Naruto's eyes brightened and the boy rushed home, stripping himself off and stepping into the shower. Sasuke was still out, so Naruto had the compound to himself. "_How do you use the chains?_" Naruto asked excitedly, washing his hair with the peppermint scented soap and removing the grime from his body.

"**You need to knead your chakra in two separate ways. One needs to loop left, right in a spiral around the other one, which loops right, left in a simultaneous spiral. You need to make your chakra into the equivalent of steel and create chains.**"

Naruto did as instructed, letting out a tiny gasp of awe when the blue chains began to form. As his consciousness slipped, he amused himself with the thought he'd managed to overexert himself.

Kurama withheld the dark chuckle and worked on Naruto's blood, changing, fixing parts of his genetic code. His host would be strong. Kurama took over, calmly stepping out of the water and wrapped a fluffy towel around his waist. He turned off the shower and left the room, walking through the compound with his head held high. He stepped into the meeting room and slid one of the loose tiles, opening the hatch and dropping into the awaiting darkness.

He lit the torches with a flick of his fingers and began the long trek to the ritual room. With any luck, there would be blood or eyes here, waiting for the Kyuubi to snatch them up and make his brat _perfect_.

He forced open the door with another flick of his fingers, using his raw chakra alone to do his bidding. The Fourth's seal was very strong, but it was full of loopholes. Kushina had large knowledge of sealing techniques, yes, but she had flaws in her techniques. She missed vital points and, the Fourth being the Fourth, the man trusted her and didn't check for faults. Kurama could take over his hosts body if Naruto allowed it. Naruto had allowed it since he was a child and had slightly misplaced but endearing trust in the demon.

He surveyed the room and found what he was looking for. Eyes.

Danzo had reaped several from the massacre, but he didn't know about this _haven_. Kurama licked his lips in delight. He lit the room and began to check the eyes, to see if they were usable. He would struggle to make dead eyes work, but he was the strongest of _all _demons.

_Uchiha Shiro_ _Uchiha Kuro __Uchiha Kira __Uchiha Kimiro __Uchiha Meroko __Uchiha Midori __Uchiha Aiko __Uchiha Mae Uchiha Ru Uchiha Aoi Uchiha Shimi Uchiha Izura Uchiha Hito Uchiha Obito Uchiha Ari Uchiha Maru Uchiha Miyabi Uchiha Furiko Uchiha Fuume Uchiha Uchiha Uchiha UchihaUchihaUchiha-!_

_There were so many to chose from. _Kurama wanted the strongest eyes and he quickly realised they were arranged in order of strength, with Uchiha Shiro and Kuro vying for top spot. Both eyes had the Mangekyō but were they strong? Would he be better off forcing his kit to activate it using himself?

He wanted Shisui's eyes, he wanted Itachi's eyes, he wanted Madara's eyes, damn it! He didn't want three tomoe, partially developed Mangekyō... He wanted the best! He knew his brat wouldn't let him kill Sasuke to develop the best, but maybe he could... Fix that?

"With both the Senju and Uzumaki blood, the kid wouldn't have a problem with using it constantly either... Especially with me," Kurama cackled. "But, again... The closer the blood ties between the donor, the more inclined it is to not reject." Kurama hummed thoughtfully. "Could the Mangekyō evolve into the _Rinnegan_? Or is there stages to it?" He tested the boys blood for the _Rinnegan _and felt... something. He didn't know what it as, but the boy had the potential to unlock it. Kyuubi gave it a one out of a million chance of truly activating... so he would make it a one in ten chance of activating.

Kurama shrugged and left the room, shutting the door carefully behind him. He leapt up the small opening and slid the floorboard into place. He was torn between Uchiha Shiro and Uchiha Kuro. _Maybe take both? One of each? _Kurama thought about the Sharingan and the repercussions. Blindness, definitely. He could fix that, no problem. Chakra drain... He was a demon. Naruto hating him for it? The kid wouldn't.

He changed into loose trousers and left to sit in the Uchiha's garden. He needed to make changes to the kids blood.

He sat near the pond and slid his eyes shut. He integrated a higher healing rate into the genetic make up by destroying the existing cells and re-creating them with his own cells in mind. Because of Naruto's Uzumaki blood, there were no drawbacks to this. The Uzumaki blood ensured long life, roughly one hundred and fifty years in those who were typical ninja. Kurama smiled to himself and changed small things, encouraging muscle growth and body expansion. His kid was too small.

He got to work on the coils, sending a rush of Naruto's chakra through them. He had made it concentrated, so that it was roughly seven centimetres at the largest part. This would stretch the coils exponentially, but the new healing abilities would stop them from burning up or stretching out in damage. He concentrated and powered his own demonic chakra through the coils, making them become used to it. He wouldn't let his brat die from over-using him. He would _not_.

He blinked away a burning sensation in his eyes and wondered what _would _happen if Naruto died. Kurama would die with him, but the kit had grown on him. He was like the kit Kyuubi could never have.

* * *

_"Kurama-onii!" A four year old Naruto giggled, latching onto one massive ear and holding still. The Kyuubi snorted and began to run again, making sure that Naruto had a tight enough grip on him._

_"**You having fun, brat?**" Kurama panted, leaping over the massive river Naruto had left his memories in. _

_"Kurama-onii, Kurama-onii!" Naruto sang, bouncing up and down with the sheer force of the foxes movements. "Naruto-kun is having fun, yes he is!" the little boy chirped, threading pudgy fingers into the thick red fur._

* * *

_"Onii! Teach me!" A seven year old Naruto demanded, stomping his little feet into the sand. Kurama gave him a dull look and shook his head, smirking._

_"**Give me a reward or teaching you and I'll think about it.**"_

_Naruto pouted angrily and crossed his arms over his chest. "Um. Um..." Kurama watched in amusement as he muttered several little ideas to himself. "Um... Ramen?" the boy tried weakly._

_"**How would I get ramen?**" Kurama asked, sniggering. He was_ too _amusing!_

_"You'd be me, of course!" Naruto told him, matter of factly. "You'd be me and I'd be you and you'd go to Ichiraku-san!"_

_Kurama shook his head and murmured, "**I'll teach you, brat.**"_

* * *

Kurama fixed the coils to be larger and make it so that use of the Kyuubi's chakra wouldn't destroy the coils completely. He got up and went back into the house, sliding the door shut behind him. He had some techniques to write out for the brat.

He grabbed a thin brush and a big scroll to write them down in.

_Bunshin Daibakuha. A-rank. Typical range. Exploding shadow clones. Use Clone, Tiger seal. **  
**_He drew a rough sketch of the clone and then when the clone had detonated. He moved onto the next one he wanted to boy to know.

_Fūton: Tatsu no Ōshigoto. B-rank. 0-20m range. Giant wind tornado; attacks from sky as opposed to you. Gives element of surprise. Wave your two fans to get double tornado, wave one to make one. No symbol, say the name imbued with chakra. _He nodded, satisfied. He went onto the next.

_Fūton: Kakeami. A-rank. 0-50m range, gets weaker as range expands. Multiple narrow currents form a 'net' of sharp blades. Very, very sharp. Wave fans. _

_Fūton: Fūjin no Jutsu. A-rank. 10-100m range. Stream of high-velocity wind containing dust particles, capable of destroying anything in its path in seconds. Horse, monkey, bird. Hands need to be overlapped near mouth and wind expelled from lungs. Chakra will enhance technique. _He drew a sketch of the two overlapped hands and the puckered lips, while using different coloured ink to map out the path of chakra in the lungs. _Chakra needs to be compressed into high-pressured state before released._

_Fūton: Renkūdan. C-rank but can become A-rank with enough chakra and usage. 0-500m range. Gets stronger the further it reaches. Take a deep breath and compress the air with chakra. Do this until you feel 'full'. Slam hand into stomach to release the bullet. Shoots a highly compressed ball of wind and chakra from mouth. Because of the amount of compression, it explodes upon contact and deals an enormous amount of damage. _He made a rough sketch and nodded in satisfaction.

_Fūton: Kazekiri no Jutsu. B-rank. 0-50m range. Use an external force and create a blade that cuts through the enemy with ease. Given your relationship with the wind, just repeat the name to the wind and funnel your chakra into it. Release it using your fans._

_Fūton: Shinkūha. A-rank. 0-20m range. Take a deep breath and spin the wind while exhaling, compressing the air into a solitary blade of wind. The resulting blade is sharp enough to slice through enemies located a distance away from the user, causing grievous injuries to those hit._

_Fūton: Shinkūjin. A-rank. Exhales wind-infused chakra onto a weapon in order to increase its sharpness, range and lethality. Infuse a kunai or your short sword._

_Fūton: Kamikaze. A-rank. Releases a gust of wind that forms many little tornadoes. Combine with **Katon: Hibashiri **(ask Sasuke to learn) and create massive infernos._

_Fūton: Kami Oroshi. A-rank. Creates a vortex of wind to blast at a target. Combine with **Katon: Hibashiri**._

Kurama nodded at his list and set the brush down. This was enough for his kit to learn in the night after training, right?

He found another blank scroll and began to fill it up with _Suiton _jutsu. He had extensive knowledge of techniques, even though he didn't really need them. The scroll had techniques such as _Suiton: Takitsubo no Jutsu_, _Suiton: Suigadan_, _Suiton: Suiryūdan no Jutsu_, _Suiton:_ _Suijinheki_, _Suiton: Ryujin_, _Suiton: Bakusui Shōha_, _Suiton: Daibakuryū_, _Suiton: Daibakufu no Jutsu_, _Suiton: Suikōdan no Jutsu_ and _Suiton: Mizu Kamikiri_.

As well as this, he'd included _Fūton: __Sunagakure no Jutsu_, _Shakuton: Chimame_, _Shakuton: Chi Ame_, _Shakuton: Maguma _and, Kurama's very own technique he'd spent _years _theorising and practising, _Shakuton: Karada Wareme. _He'd given extensive details to each attack and how they were preformed.

Kurama got back to work on Naruto's body, strengthening the bone and skin, making it coarse and thick to the touch. He also got to work on the brain, but he didn't want to damage it. He wanted to make it so the boy could use more of his brain, allowing for quicker reaction time as well as enhancing his animalistic instincts.

* * *

Sasuke groaned loudly and slid open the door to the Uchiha estate. Sakura was held in a piggy back, Sasuke deciding that she should move in. She was getting very upset by the goings-on at home and it tugged on his heart strings to see that happen. He'd come to care a lot for the pink haired girl.

He removed his shoes and slid the door shut behind him. He flicked on the lights and set her down in the spare bedroom. He pressed a tiny kiss on her forehead before going into Naruto's room.

* * *

When Kurama heard the door open, he cursed and hid the scrolls under the floorboards, settling in bed and letting Naruto take over. He knew Naruto's teammates knew about him, but Naruto was content in the knowledge that his generation didn't know.

* * *

Sasuke pressed a kiss on Naruto's nose before smoothing the damp blond hair out of his face. He sat down next to him and watched the boy sleep for a while. He removed his cloak and shirt, before sliding in next to him and falling asleep.

When they woke up, Naruto was wrapped around Sasuke like a child hugging a teddy bear. Sasuke was sprawled across the floor, drool on the corner of his mouth. Sakura giggled and copied the image to memory.

* * *

**Two weeks later**

* * *

"Hey!" Sakura stomped her foot and yelled, waking the boys up with a jolt. "Today's the day off, so let's do our own training!" Sakura commanded, already wearing loose trousers and a tight fitting shirt, showing off her new assets. Because she'd put on weight, her chest had grown but because of the exercise, she'd kept a toned stomach. She wore nothing on her feet and her hair was hanging loose around her face. Her hitai-ate was wrapped securely around her waist. Her weights were clearly on show on her arms, but she'd added two more sets into the mix. Her arms could now carry well over three hundred pounds _each_ in weight. She could pack a nasty punch, too. On her legs, she was walking with four hundred and fifty pounds on either leg. She was worried about the long term repercussions of destroying her muscles, rebuilding them, destroying them, rebuilding them but she planned on passing this exam, taking the jōnin exam, passing, then applying for either ANBU or to be a Hunter-nin. She would love to become like the Sannin Tsunade, with her medical prowess, but she didn't have the patience. She wanted to make her money fast and then live a peaceful life. Bodily sacrifices would have to be made. Besides, she could always learn to self-heal herself.

Naruto moaned and snuggled into his make-shift pillow. His muscles were aching from Zabuza's training and the modifications Kurama had made. Sasuke glared at Sakura through half lidded eyes and shook his head. "Can't we sleep for a little longer?"

Sakura's eyes twitched and she yanked the pair apart, shaking them roughly. "_We are going to be fighting to the death in two weeks and you want_ **sleep**?!"

"N-no!" Naruto laughed, scared. "Sasuke was just joking, right Sasuke?!"

Sasuke gulped and nodded his head quickly. Sakura gave them a tiny, sweet little smile and dropped them to the floor. "Good!" she chirped. "I'll go make breakfast while you get changed!"

Sasuke nodded again and crawled to the bathroom to shower. Sakura twisted on the spot and left quickly. Naruto shuddered and combed his hair through, removing any tangles from sleep. He changed into a small pair of shorts and a spandex, short sleeved shirt.

"**Check the second floorboard to the window, brat**." Kurama told the boy dismissively, still working on the boys DNA. Because of the nature of the seal, he _wasn't _technically allowed to do anything to Naruto's body but the day that Naruto let him take over to eat some ramen, that part of the seal was destroyed. Kushina was an expert at sealing, yes, but stupid.

Naruto obliged and removed the board, removing the two scrolls and stuffing them into a black duffel bag. He found his container scrolls and slipped them into the bag.

He also slipped his weapons in and slid his weights on. He was going to stop at at five hundred on his legs and four hundred on his arms.

His eyes skipped over the newly developed muscle definition and the slight difference in height.

He pulled the drawstring on his bag and put it on his shoulder, leaving his room just as Sasuke came out of the shower. "Sakura's so damn scary!" Sasuke laughed, one towel around his waist and another thrown over his shoulders.

Naruto sniggered and left, closing the door behind him. The smell of tea hit his nose and he rushed towards the source. Sakura was bustling around the kitchen, making a breakfast of chicken and vegetables. Naruto gulped down the tea and made some more, this time adding peppermint to the leaves.

Sasuke came into the kitchen dressed similarly to Naruto, with bulky shoulders and arms proudly on show. They ate quickly and left to training ground 37.

Naruto unravelled the scrolls Kurama had prepared for him and got to work. Kurama had been adding to them too, boosting his knowledge in such a short space of time. He closed the first scroll and put it back in his bag. He removed a crimson containment scroll and removed several animal bodies to practice on. There was a large fish, a large dog, a massive snake and a tiny cat.

"_Shakuton: Chimame,_" he whispered, placing his hands on the dead, tiny cat. He watched in fascination as its blood began to boil and a large blister began to form. He pulled out a kunai and popped it, resisting the sadistic smile as organs began to spill out. "Well well well..." he trailed off, picking the dead kitten up and throwing it into the bushes.

Sasuke and Sakura were sparring while Naruto worked on the animals, so they didn't see just _what _was happening. Perhaps, if they knew, they could have changed things?

Naruto ignored _Chi Ame _because that one sounded disgusting. He'd come back to it later. "_Shakuton: Maguma,_" he whispered, placing his hands in the ox, tiger, hare symbols before hovering his hands over the large dog. He saw the skin ripple and shrivel beneath his hands and he cancelled the jutsu, slitting open the stomach of the dog using his kunai. Blood and glooped material pooled out, like magma. He grinned savagely before wiping the expression from his face. He disposed of the animal and moved onto the fish. "_Shakuton: Karada Wareme,_" He made a small incision through the middle of the fish and ran chakra through the wound. He then made the boar, ox, bird, hare seals and withheld a snort as the fish was split cleanly down the middle, the wound quickly shrivelling from the heat and leaving behind two halves of mummified fish. "Fuck me."

He re-sealed the snake and turned his attention to Sasuke and Sakura's spar. Sasuke had the advantage of the _Sharingan_, while Sakura had the advantage of brute strength. "_Fūton: Sunagakure no Jutsu_," he whispered and the wind curled around him, before moulding to create the illusion of him not being there. If Sakura looked at him, she'd see nothing. If Sasuke looked, he'd see a Naruto-shaped shift in the air, but it wouldn't be _clear _that anything was there.

Naruto got closer to the fight, awed by the way Sakura moved. The _Mizu no Odori _was a style to be revered. It combined flexibility, strength, fluid movements along with speed and grace.

"**Would you like to learn a better fighting style?**" Kurama interrupted his thought process. The demon was slightly pissed off that his brat thought Sakura's moves were good. Naruto would be better.

"_Yes please!_"

"**Create some Shadow clones. We can have them copy the katas until you know them, then we can get the actual body used to the movements.**" Naruto nodded and made forty clones, making them follow him to another part of the training area. He dispelled the jutsu and he became visible again. "**_Shakuton: Fungeki_.**" Kurama took over Naruto's body and made several more clones, teaching each one the katas. They would dispel one by one, in order. Clone One, Clone Two, Clone Three... Until Naruto had the sequence down in his memories and he could move through them fluidly. Kurama would then project moving images of someone fighting using the style. Once Naruto knew how to implement the wild movements in battle, he could add _Shakuton _into the mix.

The style was a mix of high sweeps, wide open torso that would the main defence, slaps, punches, anything from a pub brawl to a fluid dance. The moves were unpredictable, violent, strong and, once coupled with _Shakuton _chakra at the main offensive body parts, was something very dangerous.

"Naruto?" Sakura called, stumbling into the small clearing. Kurama sighed and pushed Naruto back into control. He was beginning to dislike this little girl.

"Sakura?" Naruto replied, blinking his eyes to clear away the slight drowsiness that always accompanied Kurama taking control. "What's up?"

"Sasuke was wondering where you got to. Do you want to spar?" Sakura asked, watching as the clones ran through the katas. It was a weird style.

Kurama imprinted the way you used the style in Naruto's head and he nodded absent mindedly, dispelling the first clone. He left the clearing, dispelling the clones as he went.

Naruto dropped into a low crouch, his left hand above his head in a sharp claw and the right arm was bent out, away from his body. His hand was curled into a tight fist. "**This is the opening stance.**" Kurama murmured, seeing Sakura through Naruto's eyes.

Naruto hummed in reply and dispelled the last of the clones, flickering on the spot. Sakura let out a slight gasp as he bypassed her defensive stance and landed a sharp scratch to her back.

She flung herself away before he could do any damage, leaping away again as she felt the high kick where she was once stood. She ducked as an elbow implanted itself where her head once was, slamming her hands onto the ground and murmuring the name to the Mud Body technique. This time, Naruto's sharp slap to her neck passed through harmlessly and she dissipated into the ground. _Doton: Iwagakure no Jutsu, _she thought to herself. She hid in the earth and travelled silently, waiting for Naruto to realise what she'd done.

When Naruto finally realised, scouting the trees in annoyance, he slammed his leg into her stomach. She disappeared in a plume of smoke to be replaced with a splintered log. Naruto dodged to the left as Sakura brought her leg down on his head and he grabbed a kunai. "_Fūton: Shinkūjin_," he whispered, breathing cold air onto the kunai. It became covered in a bright coloured shroud, visible to even Sakura's eyes.

Sakura destroyed the ground around him, secretly tunnelling beneath the training ground. Naruto parried her attacks with his wind-infused kunai, unaware of the ground slowly changing beneath him.

Sakura put her hands beneath the ground and kneaded the earth. Naruto slammed the blunt end of the kunai into her, smirking when she dropped beneath the earth. "Sakuraa_aaa_~!" he sung, slamming his fist where she disappeared.

When he finally felt the disturbance beneath the earth, he hardened and condensed the air until he could take massive leaps into the air, settling. It looked like he was hovering twenty feet in the air, but he'd mastered his main element and could use it as 'stairs'.

Hidden in the trees, Zabuza and Haku traded looks. The kid had been holding back in the fight, but it seemed as if he'd gotten serious. Kakashi watched in bemusement as his kids sparred rather... violently. Gai and Anko were sat watching, too. Anko was rooting for Naruto while Gai was torn between the two. "Kakashi! That is a most curious style that Naruto-san has adopted!"

Kakashi shrugged in reply. "I'm not entirely sure where he's got it from..."

Sasuke was frowning at the proceedings. Naruto was different.

"_Fūton: __Sunagakure no_ _Jutsu_," Naruto murmured and he disappeared with the wind. Where was Sakura? The Hidden Mist technique wouldn't be of much use against Sakura, as she had complete control over water.

As far as team went, they were all evenly matched against each other in terms of element and skill. Sakura with her insane strength and her master of both water and earth could be evenly pitted against Sasuke, who was more speed with his fire and lightning. The water could douse the fire and the earth could ground the lightning _if _Sakura had more chakra in the technique than Sasuke. Her sheer strength could knock his balance away. Naruto, with his wind and water, could lose to Sasuke's flames but win against his lightning. He could also douse the flames and destroy Sakura's earth.

Sakura murmured "_Doton: Domu_," and shot out of the ground, her skin darkening quickly.

Naruto seized the opportunity to attack and slammed his elbow into her head. He visibly flinched, his control over the _Sunagakure no Jutsu _waning, as his elbow ricocheted off of her earth armour.

Once Sakura got a visual on the boy, she made the tiger handseal and murmured "_Doton: Doryū Taiga_," angrily. She stomped her foot, creating a river mud and throwing Naruto off-balance. "_Doton: Doryūdan_!"

A massive wet-mud dragon shot out from the river and hounded the blond boy. Naruto leapt and bent his body to avoid it, before using his short sword to create a long wound down the dragon. He powered his chakra into it and murmured "_Shakuton: Karada Wareme_."

The dragon exploded in two, mud flying every which way. Kakashi stiffened in the trees. "What's _Shakuton?_"

"It's like _Hyouton_..." Haku trailed off, watching in slight awe. "It's an advanced nature type."

"Where'd he get it from?" Anko asked curiously, chewing on a piece of dango.

Kakashi watched the fight much more carefully now.

Naruto smirked at Sakura's shocked expression and got to work on making the chakra chains his mother was famous for. Because he had little experience with them, it took him a while to even make one link but Sakura was out of it, staring at her ruined earth. The _Shakuton _had removed all moisture from the dragon, making it stay as a dusty, split dragon.

He held his hands up and the chains shot forward, extending and extending, one glowing with blue chakra and the other glowing a sickly red. He wrapped the red one wrap around her and the other poise at her throat. "Do you give up?"

Kakashi flinched, staring at the chains that Kushina was infamous for. "Just... What's going on here?" he muttered, raising his hitai-ate to get a better view of the chains. They were a part of Naruto himself, connected to his bones, kneaded from chakra.

"I've never seen anything like that..." Zabuza confesses lowly, leaping into the fray and removing his Kubikiribōchō from his back. He swung the sword down on the chains and groaned as the chains _didn't _move. "Fuck-!"

Naruto retracted the chains and watched him in distrust. "What?" he snapped defensively.

"Naruto..." Kakashi murmured, dropping down from the tree and placing a heavy hand on the boys shoulder. "Where did you learn that?"

"Kurama told me. Why?" he asked suspiciously.

Kakashi's thoughts were running a mile a minute. Why would the fox teach him the chains that could so easily restrain him?

* * *

**One week later**

* * *

Naruto jumped onto the red haired boy and nuzzled his neck, sighing happily. "Gaara, Gaara, Gaaraaaa!" he chanted.

Gaara was stood, stiffened. The sand hadn't bothered to stop him from jumping on him and he had the strangest emotion curling in his stomach. It wasn't anything he was used to. "... Naruto."

Naruto beamed and wriggled around, making himself comfortable on the boys chest and latching onto his neck. Gaara just shook his head an continued walking. The blond boy had removed his weights to rest and now he was bored. There was a week left until the third exam and Naruto was slightly nervous.

"Can I stay with you today?" Naruto asked pleadingly, looking at the boy with wide blue eyes. Gaara's white-blue eyes widened before they returned to normal. He gave a sharp nod and wrapped his arms around Naruto's legs, shifting him higher on his chest.

Anyone watching would tell you how weird it was, but nobody would say anything to the pair. They didn't have a death wish.

Gaara walked them to his hotel room. He flung the door open, barely covering the sadistic grin when Temari and Kankuro flinched. "Get out." Gaara demanded coldly, dropping the blond boy on the bed and pointing his siblings to the door.

Temari got up quickly, her head bowed low. She shuffled out, giving Naruto a pleading look. "Why do they have to go, Gaara?" Naruto asked stretching out on the bed. Temari froze in her spot and Kankuro eyed him. "Couldn't we go to a hot spring or something? I'll pay!" Naruto chirped, ignoring the glare Gaara was giving him. Kankuro held his breath.

The red haired boys eye twitched and he gave in. With Naruto around, mother was blissfully silent. He didn't want the boy to stop whatever he was doing, so he dropped his gourd and changed into loose trousers and a black shirt, picking up two small towels as he went along. Naruto beamed and removed his jacket, grabbing his Gamachan and Gaara's hand.

Gaara shot his siblings a vile look that promised violence. Temari shuddered as the door shut behind them. "How does he have so much control over him?" Kankuro asked breathlessly.

"They're the same, I think..." Temari trailed off, settling down on the bed and sighing.

Naruto bounced along, the glares and sneers in the street sliding off him. "Why do they hate you so much?" Gaara asked bluntly. "You haven't rampaged, have you?"

Naruto smiled weakly. "They think I'm disrespecting the Fourth Hokage because of my hair and eyes and because I'm adopted by the Uchiha. If they so much as throw a rock at me, Sasuke is down on them like a tonne of rocks and I think someone got executed before... But I haven't rampaged."

Gaara accepted the answer, taking the smaller hand in his and they disappeared in a swirl of sand. They appeared in front of the Konoha hot springs.

Gaara pulled the boy in, striding past the person at the counter. Naruto smiled apologetically and threw down fifty ryo on the counter. The person behind the counter shrugged and sat down.

"Gaara," Naruto laughed, removing his clothing and wrapping the towel around his waist. "Stop-!"

Gaara shot him a tiny little smirk and they both began to wash before going into the onsen.

Once they'd gotten the soap suds off and were both clean, they got into the water. Naruto had folded his towel up carefully and placed it on his head while Gaara had put his to the side. "Gaara..." Naruto began, gnawing his lip. "We're friends, right?"

Gaara stiffened and lifted his head. _Friends?_ "... I have never had a friend before." Gaara confessed quietly.

Naruto shifted until he was sat next to Gaara, his face precariously close to the red heads. "Can I be your first?"

Gaara stared into the blue eyes, searching and secretly hoping for _truth. _Did he really want to be friends? It would be nice... "I don't know how to act around... friends. But. I think..." Gaara trailed off, cursing the weakness he was presenting. "We _are _friends."

Naruto smiled happily and pressed a tiny kiss to Gaara's nose. "That's what auntie Mikoto used to do when she was happy for me." Naruto confessed, looking away with a tiny blush. "So, I'm happy, Gaara!"

Gaara nodded. "I think... I'm happy, too." There was an ache in his chest he hadn't noticed before. He'd just noticed it, because it had gone.

Naruto removed the towel off of his head and left it at the side of the onsen. "I'm going to attempt to master water." He told him before submerging himself in the water.

He started by moving his hands through the water, frowning at the slight resistance the water still gave him. He channelled his chakra into the hot spring and moved his hand again. The resistance didn't wane. The water clung to him, protecting him, soothing him, but it didn't want to _be _his. It wanted _him _to be _theirs_.

He resurfaced and channelled more chakra into the water, before he felt someone appear on the woman's side of the onsen. The man's side was surprisingly empty, but the woman side was full of young kunoichi and older women.

He could sense Hinata's chakra, as well as Kurenai's and Hanabi's. Fury shot through him when his enhanced hearing picked up giggling and he shot out of the onsen, sliding on trousers and kneading the chakra to create chakra chains.

"Naruto?" Gaara asked worriedly, although no emotion was openly displayed on his face.

Naruto charged some of Kurama's chakra into the chain and it shot forward, shattering some of the fence and wrapping firmly around an old man. He had waist length, spiky white hair that was tied back into a pony tail, with two shoulder length pieces that hung loosely. He had two red lines that ran down from his eyes and a horned forehead protector with the kanji for 'oil' carved into it. He also had a large wart on the right side of his nose. He wore a green short shirt kimono and matching pants, wearing mesh armour that showed out of the sleeves and legs of his outfit. His outfit was completed with hand guards, a simple black belt, traditional Japanese wooden sandals, a red haori with two simple yellow circles on each side, and a scroll on his back. He was also a pervert, and that was enough for Naruto.

"PERVERT!" he howled, wrenching the man forward and swirling him around. "I'm sorry!" he stammered to the woman in the onsen, clearly diverting his eyes. He'd ruined the fence.

"Kid!" the old man yelled. "Stop-!" That's when the old man realised. _Chakra chains._

* * *

Gaara was sat on a rock, bored. After the initial drama at the onsen, Jiraiya had apologised to the women and suffered a massive beating, especially from a furious Hinata. Hanabi watched in amusement.

"You're Kushina's brat then?" Jiraiya asked, giggling. They'd relocated to a busy river, with young women bathing in skimpy bikinis and splashing each other.

"Yeah..." Naruto trailed off, shooting the man a disgusted look. "And you're Jiraiya, the _ero-sennin_?"

"Jiraiya of the Sannin," Gaara said bluntly, testing the sand in the rocks. He shifted it and crunched it, making a large ball of sand before dropping it. "Author of _Icha_ _Icha_, teammate to Tsunade and... Orochimaru."

Naruto didn't miss the way Gaara paused on the name Orochimaru and he shuddered, remembering the seal. He self-consciously rubbed where the mark would have been, had it not been for Kurama. Jiraiya didn't miss the movement. "What's he done to you?"

Naruto looked down and nervously twirled his thumbs. "He ah- bit me. When I was in the Kyuubi chakra shroud... He marked Sasuke too, but he didn't have Kurama-"

"_Kurama?_" Jiraiya asked incredulously. "That bastard has a name-?"

"He's not a bastard!" Naruto spat vehemently.

Jiraiya looked dubious but sighed. "Is that why you look how you do? The slit pupils, claws, whiskers, teeth?"

Naruto hmph'ed and nodded, crossing his arms with a pout. "Just for that, you're going to have to teach me a super cool jutsu!"

"**Ask about Toad Summoning.**" Kurama interrupted and Naruto turned to Jiraiya with a red glint to his eyes.

"_Teach me to summon Toads, _Gama Sennin."

Jiraiya flinched at the red eyes. "S-sure kid, just-"

"I already have a contract with the foxes. Will that be a problem?"

Jiraiya shook his head quickly. "Having two summoning animals isn't unheard of, you just need to change the handseals slightly if you don't have tattoos."

Jiraiya quickly showed Naruto the technique and summoned a small toad. "Jiraiya!" the toad greeted, burping. "Why am I here, man? Got some food for me? Boss says you need to have a drink with him soon."

Jiraiya tossed him a small bag of crisps. "Just teaching a new kid to summon toads."

The toad looked curiously between Gaara and Naruto, before his gaze settled on Naruto. "This one? Reeks of fox."

Naruto bore his teeth at the little toad. "That's because I'm the container for the Kyuubi."

The toad nodded like it was the answer to life. "I like you."

Naruto flailed for a reply and settled on cuddling the little toad to his chest. "I like you, too!"

"You need to copy me." Jiraiya commanded, going through the seals. Another toad appeared, this one larger than the first.

Naruto nodded and copied, powering one fifth of his chakra into the attempt. He let out a very startled shriek as a _massive _toad appeared. "**Jiraiya**!" the toad boomed. "**How dare you summon me?!**"

Naruto eeped and dropped onto his knees, staring into the toads massive left eye. Jiraiya had, unsurprisingly, made himself scarce and disappeared. "I'm Uzumaki-Uchiha Naruto!"

And a wonderful friendship was born.

* * *

**The third exam**

* * *

Naruto shot awake, wiping drool from the side of his mouth. For the last week, Sasuke hadn't come home and Sakura was too tired to cope with Naruto's nightmares, so he _may_ have forced Gaara to let him sleep at the hotel.

"Good morning, Gaara!" he chirped, the red haired boy hn'ing in reply. "It's the exams today, right?"

Gaara hn'ed again and nodded, changing from his sleep wear to his battle wear. They'd gone to the Haruno store on their resting days and essentially raided the store.

Naruto had a quick shower before changing into a spandex armless suit, fitted with a mask. He wore loose trousers and no shirt, wearing metal gauntlets on his arms and covering them with arm warmers. He'd gotten two brown sashes and fitted his short sword to one, a katana to the other. His fans were safely nestled into his gauntlets. He had changed his hitai-ate again, choosing to wear one with a red, long bandanna that he tucked under, his hair on show. He'd been cheeky and ruffled it to the side, reminiscent of Kakashi. There was no doubt to who his teacher was. He had forgone his weights. Neji was stronger than any Branch member Hyuuga he'd seen before, meaning he must be very fast. Naruto had to be faster.

Gaara took Naruto's hand in his and they left, appearing in front of a stadium. Gaara squeezed his hand firmly before dropping it. "Kill him, Fox." Gaara murmured affectionately, walking into the arena.

They were told to stand in a line so Naruto stood next to Sakura, pulling Gaara beside him. "Where's Sasuke?" Naruto asked, concerned.

"Not sure yet," Sakura sighed. "Him and Kakashi-sensei..."

Naruto stiffened at the reminder and withheld a growl. He was happy that his two brothers were so close, but did they have to leave him out? Fair enough, Temari and Kankuro had warmed up to him and began to train with him, but still!

Gaara gripped his hand again and gave him a smile. Sometimes it hurt to smile, but it put Naruto at ease so he'd do it, for his friend.

So far, Shikamaru, Temari, Gaara, Kankuro, Sakura, Dosu, Shino, Neji and Naruto had all arrived, but no Sasuke.

"Stand up straight and show your faces to the crowd," the examiner murmured. _Where's Hayate gone? _Naruto wondered. "Smile, everyone's watching."

Naruto listened to the roar of the crowd in annoyance. _Pathetic_. They just wanted blood. "You guys are the main players in the upcoming matches."

* * *

"Sasuke is still missing?" the Hokage sighed, shifting in his seat.

"Several ANBU teams are searching for him, but he's no where to be found." His guard leaned in close. "There is a chance that Orochimaru has gotten to him already... In that case, it may be impossible to find him..."

"I understand." The Hokage bowed his head and his eyes flashed to Naruto. Orochimaru may not have Sasuke, because his grandson was still there-

The Kazekage strode towards him confidently, with two guards. One wore war paint, white and blue, while the other had a sour expression on his face. "Look who we have here!" the Hokage said jovially, waving a hand in greeting. "Kazekage!"

The Kazekage looked at him impassively, moving closer to sit in his designated seat.

* * *

Gaara stiffened and watched the Kage box with a foul expression. "Naruto..." the boy whispered, pulling the tiny boy closer to him. "I need to tell you something..."

Naruto smiled and nodded, pushing him away to stand closer to the stands. "What is it, Gaara?"

"There's going to be an attack-" Gaara stammered, spitting out the words before he lost his nerve. "When it's my match with the Uchiha, there's going to be a mass genjutsu knock out and the Kazekage is going to attack the Hokage-"

Naruto listened to him in horror. "The Kazekage isn't the Kazekage, it's Orochimaru. He wants you or the Uchiha, but he can't have you, Naruto!"

There was a crazed glint to Gaara's eyes that made Naruto feel protected. "When the fight happens, Orochimaru is going to use a barrier to separate the Hokage and himself and he's going to kill him. I can't- I'm expected to release the Shukaku..."

Naruto placed his hands on the boys face and traced the 'love' scar. "Gaara, will you release the Shukaku?"

Gaara slowly shook his head. "You need to summon something, if I do... I don't want to hurt you, but you need to save the Hokage too..."

* * *

"You must be tired from the long trip!" the Hokage carried on, not oblivious to the way the Kazekage ignored him.

"Yes. Although, I'm glad the Chuunin exam is being held in Konoha. Although you are _young_, Hokage-san, visiting another village will take its _toll _on you. Perhaps you should choose a fifth soon?"

The guard behind the Hokage stiffened. _He's threatening him. _He shot the Kazekage a filthy look, before looking at the Genin in the arena. The Kyuubi brat had dragged the Shukaku brat to the side and the Kyuubi brat was throwing the Hokage pleading looks. He knew that look.

The Kyuubi brat was telling the Hokage to run.

* * *

"Gaara, I will _make _the Kyuubi force you to _not _change. Will you face repercussions from not following through with the plan?" Naruto asked, pulling the Sand nin over to the line again.

"No. My father is dead." Gaara murmured, looking at the floor like a child who'd been reprimanded.

Naruto hummed and looked at the Hokage again, only to meet the eyes of the guard. Naruto slowly and deliberately began to make hand signals known specifically to Konoha ANBU.

'Orochi' 'Attack' 'Genjutsu' 'Hokage' 'Fight' 'Barrier' 'Prepare' 'Civilian'

The ANBU all watched as Fox signalled to them.

* * *

Crow left silently to the ANBU head quarters. He pressed an alarm in the reception that called for a mass-meeting. "There will be an attack during the exams. You _all _need to be at the arena, now."

The ANBU said nothing and they disappeared. Crow left to the Hunter headquarters, pressing another alarm in the hidden building. They appeared silently, warping into existence in front of him. There were well over five hundred Hunter, some 'deceased' to the eyes of Konoha. "Orochimaru is going to attack during the Chuunin exams and he's going to trap the Hokage. If you are not busy-"

Crow sniggered and shook his head. The moment he said "trap the Hokage" they had all disappeared.

He bit his lip beneath his mask and left to empty the academy.

* * *

"Don't treat me like an old man, now!" The Hokage laughed, but he knew there was a threat. He hadn't missed Naruto's signals, but the Kazekage had. _So my student is going to kill me... I can live with that. _The man laughed harder and carried on. "I'm still considering doing this for another five years." He got up and walked to stand over the stadium.

He knew that the inactive ANBU were all here now. He was content.

He tried not to let his shock show, however, when Hunter arrived and at the presence of ROOT. "Hokage-sama!" Zabuza greeted, striding past the Kazekage with Haku trailing behind him.

"Zabuza-san," the Hokage murmured in confusion. "Haku-kun."

Haku smiled at him brightly, a tiny flash of senbon telling him that _they knew. They were going to try and save him, protect him._

"Then... Let's begin this, ah?" The Hokage smiled, his chakra rising to his throat. "Ladies and gentlemen. Thank you for coming to the Hidden Village of Konoha's Chuunin selection exam today. We will now begin the main matches with the ten that have passed the preliminaries. Please enjoy the matches."

"If there is supposed to be ten, one is missing." the Kazekage commented. The Hokage's eyes narrowed down at the nine stood in the arena.

* * *

"There are some things I need to tell you before the matches." The examiner removed a slip of paper from his flak jacket and revealed the listing for the fights.

"Hey!" Sakura began. "I need to ask you something."

"What is it?" the examiner groaned, sliding the paper back into his jacket.

"Sasuke hasn't arrived yet. Will he be disqualified?"

"If he doesn't come by the time his match starts, he will lose by default."

The man shoved his hands into his pockets and looked up at the clouds. "Listen up. Although the landscape is different, the rules are the same from the preliminaries. There are no rules. The match will only end if someone dies or gives up. But, if I decide the match is over, _the match is over_. Do not argue with me about it. The first match is Uzumaki-Uchiha Naruto and Hyuuga Neji. The rest of you got to the waiting room."

Gaara, Sakura, Temari and Kankuro wished him luck, leaving him to glare at the Hyuuga. He'd sworn on Hinata's spilled blood that he'd kill him.

* * *

**._. **

**I was going to get this to 16000 words but I find it tedious to read so much so I'm making this the cut off point. Dx **


	5. The Invasion

**Difference**

**Thank you to everyone who reviewed, added this to their alerts or their favourites! x3  
ABOUT NARUTO: I don't want you to know _everything _about his past yet. I want you to groan in annoyance whenever I reveal something that adds to the puzzle. I want you to draw your own conclusions and then sob when they've been utterly destroyed. um**

**I just want it to be little pieces that _make _him. I'm no good at explaining things. :x I want _Naruto _to tell things, instead of me just narrating it. **

* * *

Naruto stood warily, watching and waiting for Neji to move. The dull roar of the crowd was nothing to him any more; it was just him, his opponent, and the thrill of a fight. Neji shifted so that he was fully facing Naruto, a cocky smirk on his lips.

"You look like you want to say something." Neji began, his pearl white eyes lighting up with malice. "Say it?"

"I'm going to kill you." Naruto told him bluntly. Neji's eyes widened when the blond boy _disappeared._

He shut his eyes and veins began to show, a pupil forming. He looked around, to find that there was a large mass of chakra _surrounding _him. There was no way he could find his opponent in this. Neji shut his eyes and thought. He opened his eyes and dived to the right. Where he once stood was nothing more than pebbles. He had flung himself into a well placed trap, well over one hundred kunai flung at him from a ninja wire.

"_Hakkeshō Kaiten_!" He began to spin rapidly, chakra exuding from every tenketsu in his body. Naruto's chakra around him completely disappeared, revealing Naruto resting on the outside of his shield. The kunai were flung aside. The blond boy was panting, his eyes wide. He was in Neji's range. "_Hakke Rokujūyon Shō_!"

He span forward, his _Kaiten _falling. Naruto was pummelled by taps and hits. "Two!" His shoulders were hit, the bones groaning from the hit. "Four!" His hips were attacked. "Eight!" His torso was being _destroyed_. "Sixteen!" It was just blinding pain now. "Thirty two!" Naruto's body was limp. "Sixty four!" The final hits, aimed at his heart and lungs, sent Naruto flying.

"Proctor, he should be seen by a doctor." Neji's voice _oozed _smugness.

Kurama howled and tore against the bonds restraining. "**Kit! Let me out-!**" Naruto moaned and curled into all fours, shaking hands pushing him onto his legs.

"It's going to take..." he panted, turning to face the Hyuuga. "More than that to take me out." His voice was cold, unforgiving. His blue eyes had hardened into ice cold chips.

The kunai around him were flung back to him, held by puppet chakra strings. Neji let out a loud cuss when one sliced his cheek, another hit his arm and one _just _missed his Achilles heel.

He spun again and the strings were destroyed, but Naruto had disappeared _again_. Neji was getting sick of it. "Only the weak hide from Fate!" he goaded, opening his mouth to speak again.

A sharp uppercut to the chin stopped him, flinging him back several feet.

Neji hmphed and shot forward. "_Jūken_!" He shut off every tenketsu in Naruto's upper body before starting on the legs. Because Naruto was already sufficiently weakened, he couldn't dodge, couldn't move...

"Your chakra points have been cut off," Neji said bluntly, shifting away from the fallen boy. "There is nothing you can do. You should give up, before I kill you."

Naruto began to laugh, a loud ringing thing. "Don't be so fucking _stupid_!" Naruto cackled, standing again. Kurama snarled and Naruto became covered in a sickly red chakra shroud. "_**Just who do you think I**_** am?**" Their voices echoed together, Naruto's eyes red.

* * *

The Hokage stiffened before forcing himself to relax. Zabuza's hand tightened on the bars, making noticeable finger imprints in the metal. The crowd was _furious_; they were reminded that the blond brat was a _monster _and he should have been destroyed.

"Oh?" The Kazekage hummed. "And what is this? That chakra... It isn't human, is it, Hokage?"

The Hokage bowed his head and shot the Kazekage a dark look. "Why don't you ask _Sabaku no Gaara?_" The Hokage played it straight back.

The Kazekage's lips twitched beneath the cover and he inclined his head at their verbal war.

* * *

Neji took the tiniest step back and that was all it took. "_Shakuton: Chimame_!" Naruto's hand became covered in a light crimson sheen and the boy disappeared; Neji felt blinding pain on his left arm and his _Byakugan _faltered briefly.

Blood pooled beneath inflamed skin before the blister burst, showering the floor in a sea of red. Neji began to panic as the blood flow increased to the point that his arm was numb.

"I'm drawing out all of the blood in your arm. If you continue the fight, you will lose that arm." Naruto told him ominously, before he disappeared again and Neji was flung sixty foot in the air. Naruto disappeared again and Neji went hurtling towards the ground, blood splattering the side of the stadium from the sheer force of Naruto's attacks.

Neji grit his teeth and stood, slightly panting. "Fate has already dictated that you will lose!"

"Fate is a bunch of shit," Naruto told him blandly, his eyes fading to their normal blue hue. "If you want to be strong, you make your own destiny."

Neji ground his teeth together and attacked again, to feel a blinding pain in his right arm. Naruto stood behind him, his short sword cloaked in wind-infused chakra, splattered with his blood. "I've severed the tendons in your shoulder. You now have two useless arms."

Neji spat at Naruto's feet. "This doesn't hurt; you musn't know a thing about pain!"

Naruto's eyes flashed and his left leg _wasn't paying any attention_. It was numb. "Who are you to say I know nothing of pain?" Naruto's voice was near inaudible. It was only their close proximity that allowed Neji to hear him. "My whole life is a pain."

"My father was killed when I was younger," Neji told him grimly. "Because of Hinata. Cloud nin tried to take the Hyuuga heiress for her eyes, but she was found and the ninja destroyed. They demanded Hyuuga blood in return." Naruto listened intently. "My father and uncle were twins," Neji told him, his eyes glazing over. He was in shock from the blood loss, as well as the shock that someone had manage to get one up on the Hyuuga genius. "But my father was born a few minutes too late, banishing him to the Branch house-" The dark haired boy's voice was slightly hysterical but he _needed _to tell someone. "And the Cloud wanted the clan head, so my father went. They couldn't tell the difference but the seal had been activated and-" Neji's voice broke a little. "He was _killed. My _father had been killed! Not the clan head!"

"That doesn't mean you should blame Hinata," Naruto whispered furiously. "Family is family, Neji. Hinata is your cousin; could you have really killed her in cold blood? What would your father say? He gave his life for his brother, so you try to kill his niece?"

Neji shook his head and removed his hitai-ate, revealing an excessive amount of bandages wrapped around his forehead. Naruto sliced them open and gazed at the green seal that decorated the other boy's forehead. "What?"

"This is the caged bird seal... The main house could kill me where I stood, because of who I came from... Do you know how hard it is to have someone resent you for something that you couldn't control, to forever be branded? Do you?!" Neji stammered out, only to feel a horrid agony in his right leg.

"Yes." Naruto told him bluntly, before his short sword rose in the air and a small bird flew up above. _Maybe the caged bird could be free? _Neji thought, slightly delirious.

The proctor intervened before Naruto could make the killing blow. "Winner, Uzumaki Naruto."

Naruto's eyes didn't show pity, only compassion and understanding for the broken little boy in front of him.

A little boy.

* * *

"My my, you Leaf nin are weak!" The Kazekage cackled. "The so-called Hyuuga genius losing to the Kyuubi brat!" _This was **delicious,**_ Orochimaru thought, smirking. He was glad the face cover allowed him to hide his face, because he was just _too _amused. Maybe he should just take the Kyuubi brat, not the Uchiha. He knew the Uchiha would probably cower from killing, but the Kyuubi brat had just shown his willingness to kill his fellow Leaf nin!

"Why are we weak, sir?" Haku asked politely, his brown eyes betraying nothing. The Hokage had set him in the shinobi ranks as a high-jōnin Hunter.

The Kazekage's eyes crinkled into the mockery of a smile and he tapped his nose, telling him that he wouldn't tell Haku _why_.

* * *

The proctor cursed and looked at the clouds. What he wouldn't give to be cloud watching right now. "The next fight is Haruno Sakura and Dosu Kinuta."

Naruto blinked and released the wind, leaving the arena. He walked up the stairs, moving one shoulder to fix it into position. Sakura was just walking down and she gave him the tiniest of smiles. Naruto grinned and hugged her warmly, subtly passing her his short sword and a summoning scroll. All she had to do was smear her blood across it and one of his foxes would be summoned, depending on the amount of chakra she pumped into it. It was a nifty little thing Jiraiya had shown him; by writing the ink with his own blood, someone could summon his animal. He'd already told the foxes that his friend may summon them and that they should obey her, no questions asked.

Sakura, in turn, pumped green chakra into his system. "Good luck, Sakura!" Naruto told her cheerfully, releasing his hold on her and walking into the fighters box. He gave a grim smile to everyone before moving to sit next to Gaara. Gaara smirked at him and shook his head.

"I was hoping for some **blood **there, Naruto."

Naruto smiled cheekily and focused on Sakura. He could see the tiniest hints of green in her ears. "She has her ear buds in." Naruto mused.

"Begin!" the proctor sighed and left the stadium, waiting for the children to start with the usual cocky speeches.

* * *

Sakura slammed a roundhouse kick into Dosu's face and followed it up with a heavy punch to the nose. She felt several bones break under the force of hits and grinned savagely.

She slammed her foot into the ground, calling on several large boulders to rise out of the ground. Dosu groaned in pain and stood up on unsteady legs, barely managing to avoid the _very_ quickly approaching piece of rock, which buried itself into the very foundations of the stadium. Sakura was impressed by the stadium; how did it manage to stay up?

She booted another rock at him, which he couldn't dodge in time. It hit him in his leg, sending him sprawling to the ground in agony. "You broke my leg!" he howled.

While he was down, she sent the last rock hurtling at him only for it to disintegrate into tiny pebbles. Sakura's keen eyes made out the sound mechanism on his arm and grit her teeth. "This is where the fight truly begins, huh?"

"_Doton: Kengan no Jutsu_!" Sakura murmured, encasing her hand in rock. She hopped to her left leg and began to spin, her right leg also becomming encased in rock. It was a _fist _rock technique, but she'd managed to make it cover her feet and hands. Kakashi seemed terrified at the thought of it, something about Earth manipulation and kekkai genkai, but she didn't listen. The Haruno were a civilian clan.

She put more and more power into her technique until she was just a large blur of black, brown and pink. Dosu watched in confusion but made sure to evade every jab and attack she shot at him. Sakura was slowly but surely getting frustrated. "_Doton: Daichi Ganshō_!"

Two large pillars of earth appeared in front and behind Dosu, trapping him against the wall. Sakura got closer and closer until- "Got cha'!" she yelled, slamming both her fist and foot into his torso and flinging him into the arena.

The proctor let out a tiny growl; didn't she realise how hard it was to fix that? "Winner, Haruno Sakura. The next fight is between Nara Shikamaru and Temari of the Sand."

Shikamaru looked ready to quit, muttering "Troublesome," and "Fighting two women... Che'." so Naruto gave him some encouragement; one hand elegantly grasping the back of his shirt, he hoisted him up and threw him down into the stadium with a happy smile.

"Kick his ass, Temari!" Naruto chirped, clapping one hand onto her back. "Us Wind-users have to show our strength, right?"

"...You used _one _wind attack during your fight. One." Temari murmured, exasperated.

She managed to kick Shikamaru's ass into dust, before he caught her with his shadow. "I give up." Shikamaru shrugged.

"W-what?" Temari gasped. "Why?"

"I'm almost out of chakra. I've thought of well over three hundred ways to defeat you but... I don't have enough chakra to hold you down," He pointed at his shadow and hers, both of them flickering. "So another attack would be useless."

"Winner, Temari of the Sand." The proctor announced, bored. _I can already tell that so far, Sakura and Naruto won't be promoted. She destroyed the area around her which would be costly in a mission, while he went with flashy attacks and didn't think it through. She has no chance of redeeming herself, but... _His eyes travelled up to the blond haired menace. _He has a chance. Sasuke? Probably not. Being late to such an important exam... No matter the teacher, he has little to no chance of redeeming himself._

Kankuro gave Gaara a questioning look, to which Gaara near unnoticeably shook his head. Kankuro was to give up his fight.

"The next fight is between Aburame Shino and Kankuro of the Sand."

"I give up!" Kankuro waved his hand the proctor sheepishly.

The proctor ground his teeth together, dark eyes flashing in annoyance. "Winner, Aburame Shino." _There goes half of Shino's chance to being promoted!_

Kakashi and Sasuke appeared in a large swirl of leaves, Sasuke changing his clothing to match Kakashi. Naruto felt a brief sting of betrayal but pushed it away. He should be happy his brothers were bonding, right?

"Aa, sorry we're late!" Kakashi smiled lazily, waving a hand at the crowd. "But Sasuke here was crossed by a black cat so of course we had to-"

"Shut up, Kakashi." The proctor shook his head and chewed on his concealed senbon in annoyance. "You're just in time for the next fight. Gaara of the Sand vs. Uchiha Sasuke."

The crowd roared in delight; this was the fight they'd come for!

Kakashi felt a stab of worry hit him. Why were there so many Hunter and ANBU in the vicinity? He'd sensed more at the gates, too; the North gate was swarming with Hunter, the East gate was covered by well over two hundred Chuunin and three hundred jōnin. The West and South gates were covered in ANBU and retired ninja who were well enough to fight. There were Hyuuga clansmen spread out through the village and the Haruno shop had sent out emergency weapon and first aid packs to the villagers fit enough to stay. There had been a mass-evacuation, although it was kept under wraps and he was fairly sure that not even the Hokage knew what was happening.

There were more high level ninja above the Hokage box, which he knew to be Danzo's ROOT that were also spread throughout the village.

"Good luck, Sasuke." Kakashi whispered before disappearing.

Naruto beamed at Gaara. "Give it your all, Gaara!" He leaned closer. "Please... Don't do it..."

Gaara nodded stiffly, giving Naruto's hand a squeeze before leaving for the stairs. As he got further away from the Kyuubi container, Shukaku began to stir. Gaara would attempt to stop the invasion, but...

He wanted the Uchiha's blood to fall.

"Begin." The proctor huffed and disappeared in his box, shoulders tense. This was potentially the end of Konoha.

Sasuke smirked cockily, crouching low. Gaara watched him impassively. "Where have you been, Uchiha?"

"None of your damn business." Sasuke replied, flinching when the stopper for Gaara's gourd shot out.

"So be it." Gaara inclined his head and sand piled on top the Uchiha. Sasuke broke free and shot past Gaara's sand defence, slamming a fist into his head. He removed his hand when sand broke and formed around his wrist. Sasuke jumped away and rushed up the wall.

"_Katon: Endan_!" He poured a tiny vial of oil into his mouth and heated it up to well over 350 degrees Celsius, before shooting a massive ball of fire from his mouth. The sand rose to protect Gaara and began to melt and fuse together from the sheer heat of the bullet. The glass shattered and more sand rose to protect Gaara.

"_Katon: Hibashiri_!" Sasuke began to circle the boy, the rising of dust around him showing just how fast he was. Naruto watched in slight awe; was his brother always so quick?

Flames trailed where he ran, creating a large ring of fire that surrounded Gaara. Gaara didn't even flinch when Sasuke aimed a low kick his stomach, catching his ankle with sand. Gaara flung him around before slamming him into the ground, putting out the flames as he went.

"_Katon: Kaen Senpū_!" Sasuke's patience was teetering on the edge. He wanted to end this fight as soon as possible and wrongly assumed he could take out Gaara with pure flame power.

He surrounded himself with fire and shot forwards, latching onto Gaara's gourd and changing some of it to glass before he was flung away. He shot a massive ball of fire towards Gaara, before calling on his chakra again. "_Katon: Onidōrō_!"

Fireballs circled him, slowly changing into faces of demons. He made the tiger seal and shot the balls of fire at Gaara, severely weakening the sand shield. Gaara called upon his ultimate defence; a ball of sand surrounded him, shooting out spikes wherever it was hit.

He crouched low, activating his Sharingan, before murmuring, "_Chidori!_"

He charged; because of his Sharingan, he didn't suffer from the tunnel vision Kakashi described and could fluidly dodge the sand projectiles. He slammed his hand into the sand shield.

Gaara's eyes snapped open and Shukaku roared in anger. _Blood? _"My... **Blood?!**" Gaara screamed in agony; was this pain?

Sand surrounded Sasuke and Gaara suffocated him into unconsciousness; his promise to Naruto was lingering in his mind and he wouldn't start the invasion, not even now.

"Winner, Gaara of the Sand." The proctor declared. "Will Haruno Sakura and Uzumaki-Uchiha Naruto please come down to the arena?"

Gaara was furious, his eyes widened and crazed, but he wouldn't do it. He wouldn't start the invasion.

Naruto grinned and jumped down, throwing his arms around Gaara. "Thank you," he whispered. "For not killing him."

Gaara blinked down at him owlishly, not really seeing him. He was bleeding sluggishly from a small wound on his arm. "Welcome..." he muttered, dazed. He broke free of Naruto's grip and released the sand around Sasuke's body.

Healers came and took Sasuke away, while one brave woman healed the cut on Gaara's arm. Gaara left in a swirl of sand to stand in the victors box.

Sakura grinned at Naruto nervously. "I'm going to kick your ass." she told him bluntly. Naruto grinned back. _I'm going to have to take her out straight away. If she gets a hit on me, I'm screwed._

He rolled his shoulder. "Begin." The proctor sighed.

Sakura jumped forward and brought her fist down where Naruto once stood, the ground beneath them virtually disintegrating. Sakura stuck to one of the walls and looked about; she hadn't managed to hit Naruto. Naruto himself was resting on the wind itself, planning quickly but thoroughly. He didn't want to seriously damage Sakura, so he'd settle for something that was really only theory. Kurama had taken it on himself to teach Naruto his own genjutsu, which forced negative emotions onto a person. "_Oni Raishuu: Getkitsuu_!"

He projected his feelings of agony, of pain, onto Sakura. There was no noticeable change at first; her nose scrunched and her eyes narrowed, but she wasn't showing pain. He forced feelings of loneliness, anger, fury, guilt, the pain of losing your family...

Tiny little tears welled up in her eyes and she clutched her throat, shaking her head. "No..." she moaned, losing her grip on the wall and sliding down into the rubble she'd made. "Stop it..."

Naruto grinned wickedly and carried on; sure, he was upsetting her, but he wasn't causing her physical pain. He was showing the Hokage he wasn't _all _physical and he could easily subdue an enemy, no problem.

"Please!" she sobbed, digging her nails into her palms. "Stop it, Naruto!"

Kurama blinked at the girl and forced his own feelings of rage, depression, misery at the thought of losing his kit onto her. Naruto took control and poured more chakra into the technique.

Sakura began to wail loudly, thick tears streaming down her face. She was flopping around like a fish out of water. "Ple_ase_!" she yelled, opening her eyes. _When had they shut? _She thought weakly, wiping the thin drip of saliva away from her chin. "_Naruto!_"

"Winner, Uzumaki-Uchiha Naruto." The proctor watched the girl in curiosity. Her green eyes were reflecting every pain she felt and he was caught in the pure emotion. _What a wicked attack, Naruto-kun.__  
_

Naruto dropped the genjutsu and fell onto the rubble, throwing one of the girls arms over his shoulder. "Are you okay, Sakura?"

Sakura watched him warily, pursing her lips. She shook her head wordlessly and her glazed eyes met the proctor's. She made a handseal and the ground righted itself, shifting into position like a puzzle.

Healers came and took her away. "Temari of the Sand vs. Aburame Shino-"

* * *

Temari gazed at her brother in concern. "Do you want me to give the fight?"

"Ye_ssss_." Gaara hissed, glaring down at Naruto. "I want to fight him-"

"Temari of the Sand vs. Aburame Shino."

"I give up!" Temari yelled.

* * *

The proctor grimaced. _Fuck. _"Then, Aburame Shino vs. Uzumaki-Uchiha Naruto."

Shino gazed over his sunglasses at Naruto and asked his kikaichū what they thought. The immediate reaction was to give up. Shino would most certainly die by that demon.

"I give up." Shino intoned, peering at the proctor through his sunglasses.

"Why?" Naruto burst out in frustration. "What is wrong with me?"

Shino gazed at him impassively and said nothing, leaning against the wall. His kikai were tense, anyway. Something about an invasion and he should be at full peak to combat the enemies.

"Then... Gaara of the Sand vs. Uzumaki-Uchiha Naruto." The proctor silently cursed and shook his head. They were quickly losing the attention of the crowd and the villages were shown to be weak. Neji, Shikamaru and Shino had all given up. Konoha was currently the weakest village, even though Uzumaki Naruto was in the final round.

Gaara left the stands and walked slowly into the stadium. The Shukaku was going insane, breaking free of the Kyuubi's limiting clutches and demanding blood in retribution. Gaara barely concealed a pained wince when the demon began to manifest in his sand.

"Begin."

The Shukaku shot forward and wrapped around Naruto's feet. "_Sabaku Kyu-_" Gaara gasped out, ignoring the look of betrayal Naruto shot him. Naruto knew _exactly _what this technique would do.

Kurama let out a small howl of rage and took over, wisps of red chakra leaking through the demonic coils. It seemed he'd have to do more adjustments; he didn't want to _lose _his chakra.

The sand backed away quickly, even the lingering grains of sand on his clothing. Naruto sucked the demon back in and slit blue eyes gazed at Gaara in disgust.

"Really, Gaara?"

* * *

The Kazekage leaned forward in interest. "Your Uzumaki Naruto shows _excellent _control over the bijuu."

The Hokage glanced at him in suspicion. "He has been trained since a babe to pull the demon back. He doesn't have control over the demon; the seal does."

The Kazekage hummed and listened to the conversation the boys were sharing.

* * *

"You're that _weak _that you can't force Shukaku back?" Naruto spat. "Weak. You're so weak-"

"_Shut up_!" the Shukaku howled, writhing in the sand. Gaara had freely given control to the demon now.

"No. Gaara, you disgust me. I thought you were better than this."

Unbeknown to the Shukaku, Naruto had started kneading the chakra chains in case he fully broke through and retained a demon form. Naruto winced when yes, the transformation was starting. He grabbed his short sword, imbued it with _Shakuton _chakra wordlessly and slammed the blade into the sand arm.

The Shukaku yelled in pain and swiped at Naruto with Gaara's arm, shooting him into the arena wall.

The Shukaku gained more control and began converting Gaara's body, building sand around the human body while forcing the human coils to accept demonic chakra. "**I'll kill** **you**!_" _

* * *

Orochimaru froze. Gaara had started the attack before the snake sannin could give the signal. _Well well well..._

* * *

At the North gate, the atmosphere was tense. The Hunter-nin all felt the whispers in the wind, hinting that _something _was amiss.

One Hunter, with the mask of one long, red strip running over his nose, sent out the signal. 'Left'

Over thirty Sound nin were destroyed without a sound, blood splattering the ground and the smell of burnt flesh evading the air. The Sand nin that trailed behind sent out well over fifty chakra flares before they too were destroyed.

"Those chakra flares will have alerted the enemy. They know we are prepared." The Head Hunter spoke, her voice sweet and pitched. It had a whimsical quality to it that _made _you listen. This was Hyuuga Kasumi, the illegitimate child to a branch member. "So... We find the ones who got ahead and we destroy them."

The Hunter flared their chakra in response and scattered. Hyuuga Kasumi looked at the sky and smiled. A bird flew over head, an eagle.

* * *

The ANBU at the South gates all froze as one. "Large chakra signal upcoming, possibly a summoning." The ANBU Captain murmured, but everyone heard.

The shinobi tensed. One man, with dark brown hair and scars littering his weathered face, smiled. "For the _Will of Fire_,we shall die."

The ANBU Captain replied, "For the _Will of Fire_, we shall protect the village."

Another veteran, with white-streaked pink hair and sparkling emerald eyes, smiled warmly. "For the new generation, we shall destroy."

With those parting words, the Haruno head raised a barrier of earth to protect the gates. "For my granddaughter, I shall protect." she whispered to herself, drawing her shoulders up and raising her head.

She could see the summoning now, a sixty foot snake swarmed with Sound and Sand nin. She grinned weakly and slammed her hands together, the earth barrier crumbling into several large spikes. Already men were impaling themselves onto them in their haste to get into the village.

The cries behind her signalled her fellow nin taking them out efficiently and her heart froze in place. Emotions were a weakness to her now, even though the surge of pride rushed through her and a feeling of love clenched her heart between its paws. She would make sure Sakura lived, even if it meant she had to die.

The Haruno clan head stood strong, even as Sound nin burst her eardrums and disabled her hearing. "_Doton: Sando no Jutsu_." She stood unflinchingly as they tore at her body, but smirked when her Sandwich technique managed to take out at least two hundred ninja.

She removed her long cloak and revealed her body, covered in explosive tags. "Fuck you." she spat cruelly before detonating them herself.

She was dead before the first tag went off, a mercy kunai buried in her brain.

* * *

At the East gate, the ninja were hidden. They'd felt the explosion from the South gate and knew one of them had detonated their tags. They bowed their heads in respect, before one of the Chuunin felt a snag on his ninja wire. Kunai, kitchen knives, shuriken, katana, ono, honyaki, short swords... The best weapons Konoha had to offer sliced through the ninja and killed men, women and children. There was no remorse; this was war.

The Archers at the gates alerted them to four large snake summons and well over a thousand ninja.

Many were shot dead by the archers, but still a lot of them escaped the fire arrows and managed to evade the ninja waiting for them.

The Hyuuga managed to dispose of them easily enough, but still many buildings were destroyed in their haste.

* * *

Temari and Kankuro grabbed their partially transformed brother and left for the forest; Temari still loved her brother and knew he wouldn't want to hurt Naruto or those he held dear.

Naruto didn't object and his worried eyes were on the Hokage. He was in the Kage box within a second and had his arms wrapped around the old man, using the wind to hide him from view.

* * *

The Kazekage focused and released a genjutsu on the crowd, calling his ninja out from their hidey-holes and ordering them to attack. He didn't know about the battles at the gates, but he was confident that the Konoha ninja would be destroyed.

He turned to face the Hokage.

* * *

Sarutobi Hiruzen had felt a lot of things in his life, but he'd never felt the fear that was bothering him now. Naruto had hugged him and then hidden himself in the draping robes and the Kazekage was not who he proclaimed to be.

"Let's begin." Orochimaru cooed.

One of his guards removed something from his clothing and flicked the tip, creating a large explosion. The resulting bang alerted the Sound and Sand nin to _fully _attack, but there were less than two thousand ninja left for him to attack with. Not that Orochimaru knew that, of course.

"Kazekage... What is the meaning of this?" The Hokage looked around; he couldn't see through the smog.

His guard behind him was killed, Haku and Zabuza deflecting the kunai adeptly. They kept close to the Hokage, but Orochimaru's guards had attempted to kill the ANBU who rushed to the box and the guard had died as a result.

Hiruzen stood up shock, feeling Naruto shift to the front of his robes. The Kazekage flickered behind him and placed a kunai to the old man's throat.

Kurama stirred and murmured weakly, "**I think there's a drug in the air... I'm so tired...**" The fox was slurring his words. "**But why? What about their own container? Brat, hold onto the Hokage-**"

Naruto gripped onto the old man's legs and flinched as the trio shot into the air. Zabuza and Haku quickly followed, not wanting to lose the Hokage, the one who had treated them with such kindness.

* * *

Four people shot out of the remains from the guards the ANBU destroyed, creating a foursome around the Hokage and the Kazekage.

"It's finally our turn!" One of them laughed, flexing six arms.

"I've got a lot of stress to vent because we maintained that formation for such a long time!" Another sighed, another head protruding from the back of his neck.

"You all smell real sweaty, you dirty bastards!" A woman cussed, with long red hair and a hand cocked at her waist.

"Cut it out; we're teammates." A large man interrupted, hanging his head low.

"Do it." Orochimaru ordered, pushing the Hokage away and flinging Zabuza and Haku away. They slid to the edge of the roof, but the Sound Four had already created the barrier.

"_Ninpou, Shishi Enjin!_" the four called out. A sickly purple barrier appeared and one of the ANBU had no time to avoid the barrier, hitting it. The smell of charred flesh hit the air and the ANBU screamed in agony, burning.

"Kazekage..." The Hokage growled, sitting up. Naruto was still invisible because of the wind, so he left the safety of the Hokage's robes and hovered at the edge of the barrier. _Naruto, be careful. _The Hokage prayed for Kami to protect the boy, because he knew that he couldn't.

"I didn't expect the Sand to betray Konoha..." The Hokage murmured, watching the Kazekage like a hawk.

"A treaty is merely camouflage to relax an opponent."

* * *

Danzo watched in sorrow as Hiruzen was trapped in the barrier. He was _too _far away to reach them in time, so all the war hawk could do was watch.

Hiruzen was his friend, and that was that. No matter his ideals, Hiruzen was his friend.

His mind made up, he tested the barrier with his own chakra and paused when he felt the Kyuubi container hidden at the side of the barrier. He could use this to his advantage, without the Hokage even knowing.

The barrier was a strong one, but it wasn't impenetrable. If something, say, _demonic _decided to destroy it, well... Normal human chakra couldn't withstand an onslaught.

"Uzumaki," the war hawk growled, hiding himself in a similar way to Naruto. He approached the edge of the barrier. "I need you to release some of the Kyuubi. At least four tails worth of chakra."

Naruto hummed in response, clearly expecting an explanation.

"You are to destroy the barrier from the inside out. I will have my ROOT destroy the Sound Four before they can create another barrier and then we will dispose of the Kazekage. I need you to do this when the Kazekage is preoccupied; do _not _let the Hokage die."

Naruto hummed his affirmation and his eyes appeared, showing that Naruto was already enraged and Kurama was at the surface.

"**There's something stopping Kurama from fulling manifesting in my mind.**" Naruto growled. "**He's just beneath the surface at the moment, but this is severely weakening the seal restraining _me at the__ moment_.**"

Danzo tested the air with his tongue and nodded. "There is a suppression gas in in the atmosphere. I will have someone dispose of it for you, Kyuubi. Keep Hiruzen alive." Danzo added, before disappearing on the spot and ordering his ROOT to clear the air in any way possible.

Danzo was heartless, a fiend, possible child abuser, yes, but Hiruzen was his friend. _And I will be damned to let anything destroy him._

* * *

True to his word, Danzo had removed the suppression gas from the air and Kurama retreated to Naruto's mind, covering his and Naruto's chakra when he was stretching Naruto's coils even more. Four tails would tear Naruto's skin apart, but... Naruto loved the old man. Sacrifices would be made.

* * *

"The petty mock battles end here." The Kazekage told the Hokage bluntly, crouching down next to him. "Starting now, history will be made and altered."

The Hokage grit his teeth. "Are you crazy? Are you trying to start a war? Your men have been _destroyed_. Naruto-kun alerted the ANBU and my men and women have been-"

"Shut up. Yes, I'm trying to start a war."

"You should cease this conflict and seek a resolution through negotiation. There is still time to stop this, Kazekage."

The Kazekage began to chuckle. "Perhaps, when you become old, you become used to peace... _Sarutobi-sensei._"

"You're... Orochimaru?"

Orochimaru grinned and removed the Kazekage's skin, revealing long, ink-black hair, white skin, yellow, slitted eyes and thick purple markings.

Orochimaru chuckled again. "My, my... When Gaara did his thing, I was planning on stealing Sasuke-kun or Naruto-kun away... But, it seems I can have everything go my way, right, Naruto-chan?"

Naruto grit his teeth and released the wind around him. "You will _not _take me with you, and you will **not **destroy the Hokage!"

The Hokage watched his grandson with a fond smile on his face. "Orochimaru... I always suspected a day like this would come. But... You cannot take my head so easily!"

"I told you... You should have picked a fifth Hokage sooner, third, since you're going to die here."

* * *

Hyuuga Kasumi cursed and swung around, activating her _Byakugan_. She had a seventy two metre range, one of the strongest in the clan, but she only knew how to activate her _Byakugan_. She was not permitted to learn _any _clan techniques.

"Ninety four ahead!" she yelled, her mask broken. Her purple-black hair hung around her, matted with blood and charred in places, her hair tie broken. Her armour was scuffed and she was missing her right hand, but she fought on.

"Snake incoming!"

The odds were in Konoha's favour, but they'd lost many strong ninja and they had to fall back on the ANBU. The ANBU, rightfully, loathed the Hunter, because the Hunter were ruthless and showed no mercy.

She lurched forward, kunai held in her mouth, veins bulging even in her jawline. She tore through many men, women, reaching the snake. She leapt onto it's head and detonated her explosive tags.

Anything for the Leaf, she told herself firmly. _Anything._

* * *

"I know that you do not move for revenge, as you have no goals or motives." The Hokage spat, getting up and moving to where Naruto stood. Orochimaru sniggered and left to face him.

"Well," Orochimaru mused, tapping a pale white finger on his chin. "I sort of have a goal." The man confessed like a child, eyes alight in glee. "If I were to state it in words... I would like to see moving things. They're boring when they don't move." He removed the Kazekage hat, shaking his head to let his hair flow around him. "A windmill that is not moving can be nice from time to time... But most of the time, it is not even worth looking at." He threw the hat aside, one hand sliding to his chest and flinging the Kage robe open. "Now, I want to move the windmill with the wind, called the Destruction of Konoha."

"You haven't changed, I see." The Hokage chuckled, removing his hat and cloak with one swoop.

"To think that I can fight with you again..."

"Naruto-kun, please do not interfere." The Hokage looked into Naruto's slitted eyes and gave the boy a tiny little smile.

The boy looked ready to object but he nodded. "**You're not strong enough, kit.**" Kurama murmured. "**But we can help him out... He should have limited movement in his arms now, even though he shows no outward sign of pain.**"

Naruto hummed thoughtfully and closed his eyes, moving his hands into a tiger seal. He focused on the weak _Shakuton _pulse and forced his chakra to expand the pulse, even as Kurama started to _pour _chakra into the boys body. He went straight to three tails in the shroud, before Kurama took over and began slam himself into the barrier.

Orochimaru grit his teeth and collapsed to one knee, his arms twitching lifelessly. "_You_!"_  
_

"Me." Naruto grinned cheekily, opening his eyes. "Ojiisan, take him down. I'll subdue him for you."

The Hokage chuckled and shook his head. "_Shakuton_, aa?"

The Hokage summoned his boss Monkey and managed to severely weaken Orochimaru, but at the cost of his own agony.

Orochimaru grit his teeth and exhaled a purple gas. The Hokage realised what it was and gave Naruto a tiny look, commemorating the boy to memory. He kneeled next to Orochimaru and inhaled the gas until Orochimaru dropped unconscious and the Hokage was bleeding profusely from his mouth and nose.

The Sound Four broke the barrier and Kabuto picked Orochimaru up, barely sparing the fallen Hokage a glance and disappearing.

Kurama gave control back to Naruto as the floppy human skin broke and snapped. Naruto's blue eyes met the Hokage's warm brown ones, shining in pride. Naruto picked the man up, snarling at any ANBU who came to close, and shot off to the hospital.

Naruto wasn't well-liked at the hospital, but when he turned up with the weakened Hokage the doctors took him away, healing Naruto's skin as they went.

* * *

"Uzumaki Naruto." Danzo started; he had assembled a war council after the Hokage had fallen, consisting of clan heads and higher-ninja. "I believe he should be put forward to become a Chuunin. He showed unwavering loyalty to the Hokage, even at the risk of his own body failing for the Demon's chakra; this shows he is loyal to Konoha and did you see his techniques?"

One woman, Yamanaka Kaede, with pretty brown eyes and dark hair pulled back into a bun, nodded her head. "I also believe that Haruno Sakura should be made into a Chuunin- did you see her skill with earth manipulation? Kanae would be so proud..." Her eyes filled with tears but she forced them away. Inoichi took her hand in his own and gave it a comforting squeeze; Haruno Kanae had taken her own life to stop the enemy from getting any closer, but in doing so she'd limited Sakura's knowledge about her _kekkai genkai_.

"I believe that Shikamaru should also become a Chuunin," Sarutobi Asuma said gruffly. "He conserved chakra, enough to subdue several strong enemies at the time of attack, while throwing his match to save it. That shows loyalty to the village, even at the expense of losing his chance to become a Chuunin."

There were several muttered agreements around the office and Danzo nodded with a smile. "Uzumaki Naruto, Haruno Sakura and Nara Shikamaru will become Chuunin's, then."


End file.
